Adresses, reports, statements of benevolent societies, constitution, minutes, roll of delegates, etc. … October 22-30, 1913

>

Hl3

Scmcx^yj^ 02106

THE NATIONAL COUNCIL

CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES

UNITED STATES

ADDRESSES, REPORTS, STATEMENTS OF BEXEYOLENT

SOCIETIES, COXSTITUTIOX, MIXUTES,

ROLL OF DELEGATES, ETC.

FIFTEENTH TRIENNIAL SESSION
Kaxsas City, Mo., October 22-30,1913

PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE XATIOXAL COUXCIL

BOSTON, MASS.

Office of Secketakv of National Council

no. 605 congrecjational house

1913

SAMUEL USHER
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

NATIONAL COUNCIL

THE FIFTEENTH TRIENNIAL SESSION

ADDRESSES AND DISCUSSIONS

"THE NEW CONGREGATIONALISM

CONTENTS.

Address of the Moderator.

Rev. Nehemiah Boynton

Page
9

Sermon: The World's Need and Christianity's Offer.
Rev. Charles E. Jefferson

24

ADDRESSES.

Church Unity.

Rev. Newman Smyth

41

The Reasonableness of Protestant Union.

Rev. Peter Ainshe

43

A Working Basis tor Chui-ch Unity.

Rev. OMver Huckel

52

The Leader and His Task.

Rev. Carl S. Patton

69

Ministerial Annuities.

Rev. Frank J. Goodwin

79

The Responsibilities of the Church Respecting Marriages.
Simeon E. Baldwin

88

Statements of Benevolent Societies.

American Board

Congregational Church Building Society
Congregational Education Society
American Missionary Association
Congregational Home Missionary Society
Congregational Sunday-School and Publishing Society
Congregational Board of Ministerial Relief

97
109
121
127
147
154
177

b CONTENTS.

Page
Reports of Committees.

Provisional Committee 160

Secretary- of the National Council 166

Publishing 173

Treasurer 175

Auditor 176

Ministerial Annuities 186

Apportionment Commission 205

Council Committee on the Report of the Apportionment Commis-
sion 228

Brotherhood 235

Calvin Centenarj' 243

Church Property 245

Church Unity 250

Comity, Federation, and Unity . . . 259

Incorporation 263

Evangelistic 267

Delegates to Federal Council 273

Industrial 276

Religious Education 279

Temp>erance 285

Order of Worship 297

Commission of Nineteen 332

Charter and By-laws of Trustees 356

Minutes 361

List of Officers . . 408

Committees of Session 409

commisssions ad interim .... .... 409

Delegates, Alphabetical List of 412

Index 417

1913.

SESSIONS OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL.

•araA

O o

Ph

Pi

.; aj t"

Wr,

'<t;fLi

03 3 O)

o e cj o
IS] xfocu

« a 3

W cnO

,; a> oj

*^ sS 5

;- 2 o3

13 e o

b O) tn

O ■ji (h

a "^

a; t-i t>-

isur.^ <u t. 1^

PiPi

d^6«fo

d > > > >

o aj a; OJ ^

Mp^ 03 Pi Pi

■ o

0-3
Ph G C

a; a;

_ „ « c3

Ph g OM

^^ujf^ojo

? o

pgffi^JO

> >^

a; 4J .
PiPiO

> > > S >

(U a; (U £ a>

K S

c

;3 C OJ
111

i > > >

J « o «
' ^ f^ 5^

/ hH hH r-H

^ fl aJ

o; O

t, c fi o 0}

S

o3

■5 >>

S3

^ S t^^^^l

tc C -03

o

:i3 d g > e
;;r o J:; 4) o
i^aPHPia

3

P5

dc»
^-5

• ^ ^ n

4iZ

c ■ ;

^ c •

! P C

K F^ CC fl; £_,

>d>>>c>>

__ aiOcj(uajOa>o

PiKKPiPi22HPiapiPiciKPiPH

> a c > > c

c o o oj oj

a!-M o o o

03.2

rt ■># l^ O CO

r^ t^ t^ ao X

X X X X X

^< o .- .-
„. X c3 2 C C

w O C O .J4 _,
o tH ? c3 *i -p
•3 O .S s-i tH t;

U:gg7:}PHP-(

p p ri '£ x -^
X X X X X S

.S'xSo

.3 a

a3 o i
»+< t^c CO

O O 1-H r-i

c; ci Ci C3

Pi

Pi

2

0)

oi

"O

l^

c

X

<

' '

> ^

S X S 2

^'fs5

d-S,

C/2 S

w

H .S

THE ADDRESS OF THE MODERATOR.
nehemiah boynton, d.d., brooklyn, n. y.

Religion.

The high seriousness of the present rehgious situation is an
occasion not of the despair, but of the confidence of a buoyant
and conquering faith. If ever there was an age which could
worthily cherish the confidence that God's purposes are ripen-
ing fast, it is the present, and if ever the summons was clarion
and strident for those who believe in God to throw their self-
forgetting strength into the interests of his kingdom, to wage a
most earnest warfare while cherishing a most livel}^ hope, that
age is now.

All efforts to install the materialistic idea of the universe
fall by their own weight. Every theory of the universe needs
a God to make it workable. Mankind is still incurably reli-
gious, and the instinct of religion, never more than to-day,
asks its brave questions, claims its uneclipsed hope, and initiates
its aspiring adventures. The prospects of religion were never
finer than to-day, and apparent perils of the faith, surmounted
and overcome, become like mountain tops, which once attained
reveal the widening horizons and the enlarging vistas.

The very fact, ominous to many, of clouds and darkness
round about religion, of challenges, of difficulties, of recessionals,
is the chief witness in the case for the vitality of religion to-day;
it is also the prophecy of its vigorous ability to divest itself
of outworn garments, liturgical, ecclesiastical, and theological,
and to clothe itself in the newly woven modern purple as it
progresses persistently and inevitably to purer forms of faith
and service, as the expression of its divine life.

Catholicism.

The mighty conflict between the principles of ecclesiastical
authority and personal freedom waged in the Roman Church
to-day under the name of Modernism is the distinct testimony
of the presence of the great religious spirit rousing itself to new
demonstrations of its efficiency in that historic communion,

9

10 ADDRESS OF THE MODERATOR. [1913.

and whatever the outcome of the struggle may be in our own
time, however successful the power of the church may be in
repressing the new spirit, still it is certain, as that the day
follows the night, that the contest will go on inspired by the spirit
of free and unfettered religion to a victorious consummation.

Protestantism.

In Protestantism the new religious renaissance is revealed
in the recognition of the value of new truth coming from any
quarter of the growing intelUgence of the age, in the new feeling
for Christ; in the new attitude toward humanity; in the new
missionary fervor, the new faith in the possibility of the reunion
of Christendom, and the new adaption of yesterday's organiza-
tions to the patent needs and beckoning opportunities of to-day.
The press, the platform, the pulpit, the executive boards, the
national religious assemblies, the surprising benevolent under-
takings, — all reveal the presence, the push, and the power in
our modern life of that mighty and precious influence which
we describe as the life of God in the soul of a man.

The grave problems which in America are ours, of population
multiplying with unprecedented rapidity, of diverse races to be
assimilated, of the growth of wealth congested in the hands of
the relatively few, of the careless abandon of comfort and luxury,
of the demand for loyalty, — all these, by the very fact of their
increasing pressure upon the conscience of the people at large,
are the proofs declarative of the impulse of a great spirit among
us, making all things new, turning and overturning, speeding
the world to hitherto unreached goals, and inspiring men to
hitherto unrealized achievements. The contemplation of our
age, the painstaking examination of its mighty undergirders
as well as the passing in review its manifold surfaces, is for an
earnest soul an exercise of faith and a reassuring confidence in
the energizing presence of that religious spirit which holds the
key to the interpretation of yesterday's trust, and which affords
the prophecy of to-day's fruition.

Congregationalism.

Congregationalism as an integral part of American Protes-
tantism is not immune to these influences. She shares with

1913.] ADDRESS OF THE MODERATOR. 11

her sister denominations both the hopes and the fears of the
challenging dajs, and holding her historic possessions in the
full light of the modern situation, asks for such interpretation
of their significance, and such appropriation of their power, as
may afford to her full opportunity in ministering most effec-
tively to the present situation.

There is no braver word from the lip of our forefathers cher-
ished by ourselves to-da}'^, than their expressed purpose to walk
in all the ways of the Lord, known and to be known. In
honoring their past, they were careful to provide for their future,
because they believed in the future. It is therefore the part
of their loj-al children to provide for the future as well as to
defend the past. The task of Congregationalism to-day is
the task of adjustment in the interests of efficiency, and her
'institutions, her intellectual affirmations, and her personal
aspirations must all of them answer to the searching cross-
questionings of our o^NTi age at the point of modernity and of
efiiciencj'.

It is sometimes intimated that our supreme denominational
need is a spiritual need; that we should give ourselves to
prayer and the ministry of the Word. Permit me to affirm
that putting our denomination in effective play through the
readjusted institutions is just as much a spiritual task as prayer
and preaching. It is both effectual prayer and convincing
preaching. Our Pilgiim fathers were just as spiritually em-
ployed when they were sailing the Mayflower over the wrinkled
and white-capped billows as when they assembled in the cabin
and drew up a solemn compact. It is still true that to labor
is to pray, and the patient, perplexing task of adjusting our
denomination to her present opportunity is an undertaking
the spiritual content of which is neither meager nor inconse-
quential; the attitude toward this task is an expression of the
spiritual life of Congregationalism; as significant and as im-
pressive as that other exhibit, precious beyond words in its
proper relation, through psalms, and h>anns, and spiritual
songs.

Nor are we to be deterred because of the fear that such
adjustment will throw our denominational interests into the
hands of ecclesiastical politicians. The politician in Congre-
gationalism is usually" a short-lived individual. He is like the

12 ADDRESS OF THE MODERATOR. [1913.

grass: in the morning flourishing and growing up; in the
evening, cut down and withering. Pohticians in Congregation-
alism find their level more rapidly than in most other polities,
and so soon as the denomination discerns the traces of political
manipulation, it has its effective method of handling the situa-
tion. It is probably true that every venture or refinement
has for its attendant a new risk, and that under a new adjust-
ment of our denominational hfe, there might be an opening here
and there for the juggling of the politician which has hitherto
been closed, but a new adjustment will mean a resurgence of
our denominational spirit which will be distinctly unfavorable
to politicians, who thrive upon apathy and indifference. Con-
gregationalism is so inevitably an opportunity for service that
it easily distinguishes the self-serving man, and when once
its eye is fixed upon him, its withering glance smites his courage
and dissipates his strength.

Nor once again are we to be deterred because of the challenge
that an effective Congregationalism means an abandoned
principle. The autonomy of the local church is, and will al-
ways be, the slogan of our American Congregationalism.
Every local church, free and independent in its pulpit and in
its pew, a law unto itself; cordially conceding all this, its still
remains true that there is no reason why the autonomy of the
local church should destroy the Congregational denomination.
The principle of the fellowship of the churches is just as trul}^
Congregational as the other. They are the foci of our Congre-
gational ellipse, and at the present time it is the implications
of the fellowship of our churches which are demanding public
attention. It is a curious fact that at the present time the
number of our Congregational churches feeling the urgencies
of the implications of fellowship is very much more numerous
than the number of those who find themselves at liberty to
glory in independence. It is true that we have a verj- few
churches in our fellowship which are so strong, because of their
possession of financial legacies, or because of the ability of the
minister, or the prestige of the constituenc}'', that the rising
Congregational demand for fellowship meets an indifferent
reception. They do not need such fellowship themselves, and
they fail to appreciate the need of other churches. Neverthe-
less, we are members one of another. No church for long can

1913.] ADDRESS OF THE MODERATOR. 13

live unto itself, and the principle of the autononi}^ of the local
church unregulated b}' that of the fellowship of the churches
is an overdone principle, a result of which is inevitably weakness
and inefficiency.

Institutions.

The origins of our Congregational institutions, both denomi-
national and missionary, have interesting suggestions for the
painstaking observer. The}' did not spring to life full-armed,
but were devised to meet apparent necessities. Congrega-
tionalism never hesitated to match a necessity with an efficiency.
In this Avay we have provided ourselves with conferences,
associations, and national councils. In this way we have
established societies for the prosecution of home and foreign
missions. In this way we have approved an apportionment
plan for raising our benevolent funds; in this wa}^ it is to be
hoped, we shall at this council find ourselves inclined to meet
new occasions with new efficiencies; up to date as in various
ways Congregationalism has appropriated new methods accord-
ing to her needs, the principle of the autonomy of the local
church has continued dominant; not in the least degree has it
been invalidated; nor is there any spirit or purpose to under-
mine this firm foundation. The adjustment of a principle, so
far from being an abandonment, is the accentuation of it.

The patent fact is, that to-day our denominational oppor-
tunity is beyond the capacity of our present plant. The
amazing growth of our country since the Civil War, multiply-
ing our population more than threefold, the development of
our ow^n constituenc}', and the imperative summons for enlarging
our sphere of influence, put us squareh' in presence of an
alternative: either we must advance denominationally or
abandon hope of increasing influence in the religious history-
of America. There is no escape. It is efficiency or exit, for
Congregationalism.

The past's blood-rusted keys wdll not turn in the lock of the
present or of the future. Business men are finding out to-daj-
that the rule of thumb method must be exchanged for scientific
eflacienc}-; when the exchange is declined, the inevitable
follows. Our Congregational institutions represent the rule
of thumb method. We do not disdain them any more than

14 ADDRESS OF THE MODERATOR. [1913.

we disdain the commerical method of half a century ago, but
CongregationaHsm is as impotent as commerce to prevent the
shrivehng of influence and the decHne of power, if efficiency be
denied. A knight of the Middle Ages was an imposing spectacle
and no mean fighter, but a modern man uithout armor, and
with a repeating rifle, while not so imposing in appearance, is
a hundredfold more effective.

Let us not deceive ourselves with the idea that our institu-
tutions are getting on pretty well as it is; that notion makes
our task too easy, too soft, too smug. We suffer to-day, some of
our organizations very seriously, because of the ill adaptation
of the organization to the opportunity. Our secretaries feel
this, — noble men with singleness of purpose and consecration of
life, they were not so many years ago honored among us as
our most representative characters; to-day, they find it in-
creasingly difficult to secure a welcome to our churches, and the
deference and respect of yesterday is not infrequently exchanged
for mere tolerance to-da3^

The directors of our societies feel it. The constituency is
less stable, more fickle. A multiplicity of appeals become
competitors for benevolence, and veins of loyalty hitherto
depended upon seem to have become worked out.

Churches feel it, for in the present situation of the modern
church the disposition of the multitude of appeals which are
both proper and worthy is one of the most perplexing problems.
All these things indicate the necessity of a new adjustment
of our denominational institutions to our denominational life
in the light of our modern situation.

Nor do our organizations to-day make adequate room for
the new responsibilities resting upon the religious world, to
bear our proportionate share in which is the worthy aspiration of
every loyal CongregationaUst. Social Christianity, federative
work among churches, international peace, the reunion of
Christendom, ^ — -these are hardly recognized to-day; certainly
not adequately in our Congregational organization.

The broader day into which irresistibly the church of the
living God sweeps, will have little sympathy for the surprising
wastes, the clumsy and bungling methods which characterize
so many of the activities of the church. The hopefulness of
the modern situation is the knowledge of existing conditions

1913.] ADDRESS OF THE MODERATOR. 15

and the opportunity of readjustment. Have we the spirit,
the venture, and the courage to readjust in the interests of
practical efficiency? This is a great and essential spiritual task
of CongTegationalism to-day.

Intelligence.

The intellectual relationship of Congregationalism has always
been high, dignified, brave, and commanding. What it has
meant to us that our first minister. Rev. John Robinson, was
competent to fill a commanding position in the university at
Leyden, cherishing and proclaiming his faith that God had
more light to break out of his Holy Word; what it has meant
to us that the most significant thing in the Mayflower was not
the cradles, the armchairs, which are so generously in evidence
to-day, but WiUiam Brewster's simple library of four hundred
volumes; what it has meant to us that we cherish the Mathers,
Edwards, Emmons, Bushnells, the Beechers, as our spiritual
forbears, — cannot be estimated. We live with power be-
cause our history has been one of intellectual breadth and
depth. Fortunate indeed have we been in avoiding the req-
uisition denominationally, of formal assent to any creed,
while insisting upon our deep spiritual fellowship with those
great truths which are implicit in the idea of God in his world,
of Christ in his saving power, of the Kingdom of God, of the
Bible as the record of the revelation of God's eternal love for
man, of the true brotherhood of humanity, and of the glorious
hope of immortality. Amid the changes of thought which
have characterized the fleeting years, these principles have
been our own. Congregationahsm in her best estate has al-
ways been the scholar's friend.

Every intelHgent man knows the changed point of view
regarding knowledge of the recent years. The scientific
spirit has greatly enlarged the area of our religious facts. The
historical spirit has set in new relationships the facts which
were ours in the world of yesterday, while the modern study of
the Bible has given the Book of the ages a new and firmer
setting in the heart of the living present. Whether one wel-
comes these changes or not, they are here, and Congregational-
ism has no more outstanding obligation to-day than to define

16 ADDRESS OF THE MODERATOR. [1913.

her attitude toward modern truth with sympathy and with
courage. There is a conservatism which is to be respected.
It is in form intelligent but reluctant. It insists that positions
shall be fully earned before they are generally allowed. Such
conservatism has always been of real assistance. Every
chariot, even the chariot of the Lord, needs brakes, but there
is a conservatism which is reactionary, obscurantist, prides
itself about not changing its mind and holding fast positions of
yesterday, despite the assured conclusions of the intelHgence
of to-day, and that kind of conservatism is as uncongregational
as it is unavailing. Congregationalism is closely allied with
scholarship. The foremost place which we occupy regarding
religious education is the testimony.

Our fellowship is a palace of freedom for seekers after the
truth. Our institutions for colleges and for seminaries are the
continuing testimony of our fearlessness of advancing truth
and of our faith in that knowledge which grows from more to
more. The volumes given to the world every year by our fellow
Congregationalists are the patent evidence to the world of
our continuing purposes of growth with growing intelligence.
It is the elevation and comprehensiveness of our intelligence
which is no small part of our denominational prestige and
fruition.

The present reHgious situation affords the finest opportunity
for the ministry of this entrusted gift. If it be said that theol-
ogy is no longer interesting in these practical days, the rejoinder
must be speedily affirmed that the interest in theology must
be revived, for though ours is a practical age, it is an age in
which other departments of Hfe are eagerly giving, often to the
surprise of the world, reasons for the faith that is in them;
and surely religion cannot for long be content with uninter-
preted services. The meaning of Christ for the world of the
present day depends upon the meaning of Christ for those who
love him, and no zeal, however flaming, can be for long an
adequate substitute for a most modern and intelHgent answer
to that burning question which every age asks and answers for
itself, — What think ye of Christ? We are distinctly aware
to-day of that prepositional wisdom which walled Christ around
within metaphysical logomachies and theological presupposi-
tions, as contrasted with that experimental wisdom which sees

1913.] ADDRESS OF THE MODERATOR. 17

him in the fellowship of a great personal love and of a royal
personal service.

It is part of the royalty of that personal service to so de-
fine and delineate the new feeling for Christ in such fashion
that we may reasonably declare —

" I say the acknowledgment of God in Christ
Solves for thee all questions in the world and out of it."

A thoroughgoing loyalty to the new settings of the old truth,
to the old faith in the new light, is at once our responsibility
and our opportunity. This trained intelligence and comprehen-
sive judgment must be fearlessly and faithfully applied to all
our modern religious undertakings asking for our sympathy
and for our support.

Ministry.

Congregationalism has few more serious concerns than those
which gather about her ministry. In our inability to supply
our churches with men trained in our own seminaries and
beneath our Christian ideals, we are supplying some of our
churches wath men whose devotion and piety are worthy of all
commendation but whose lack of thorough training makes
the safeguarding of our high ideals of Christian duty and
privilege difficult if not problematical.

In our need of men we reach into other Christian fellowships
and receive men who have been trained in other communions.

Many of these men are most valuable additions to our ranks.
They are welcomed most cordially, because they join with us
and become one with us in our spirit and purpose. Others,
unfortunately, find it difficult to assimilate our ideals and
methods, with the result that our associated work is hindered
by their presence in our churches. In some manner the denomi-
national responsibility of men in Congregational pulpits must
be accentuated.

The method of securing ministers for vacant pastorates has
little to commend it. A serious reflection on the working of
our polity to-day is, that a man who by his fidelity and growth
becomes worthy of a field of wider influence, has no sort of assur-
ance that he will be recognized. Men from other denomina-
tions, from other comitries, are installed repeatedly over

18 ADDRESS OF THE MODERATOR. [1913.

churches which, if there were any kind of recognition of ability,
consecration, and service of men who are our own product,
would honor themselves and worthy men by making them
their ministers.

Brethren, we need in Congregationahsm a new respect for,
and loyalty to, our own ministers.

It need hardly be said that the pitifully small average salary
which a Congregational minister receives makes the living
conditions of many not only hiunble, which is to be expected,
but cruelly and persistently unrighteous. All the indignation
which it is proper for a Christian to entertain is easily roused
when one comes to an intimate knowledge of the ministerial
situation as it can be shown to exist, not in isolated instances,
but more generally than those who are uninformed imagine.

The movement which this Council will meet, for an honor-
able recognition of the dignity of ministerial service, and a
reasonable provision for the minister's temporal needs, is one
which ought to rouse our, in this respect, somnolent Congrega-
tionalism, to prompt, determined, and effective action.

Too long has it been true, as in the days of old, that there
was in the city " a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom de-
livered the city; yet no one remembered that same poor man."

The ministry has a just and long-standing claim for sympa-
thetic Congregational attention.

Evangelism.

We are confronted with the problem of evangelism, and our
cooperation is continually asked for all forms and kinds of reli-
gious activity. There is the mechanical evangelism, relying
upon pious tricks as worthy conservators of the works of God.
There is blatant evangelism, relying upon coarseness of speech,
vulgarity of manner, horse play, and the caricaturing of reli-
gious lives, as methods of collecting crowds and opening to
immortal souls the gates of the kingdom of God. These are
extensively advertised, and often one's personal allegiance to
Christ is in the esteem of some conditioned upon his fellow-
shiping and pushing these religious undertaldngs.

It is a patent fact that the good sense of the world turns
to-day from that so-called evangelism which works from the
outside in, from the spectacular to the supposedly spiritual.

1913.] ADDRESS OF THE MODERATOR. 19

which begins A\'ith the presence of the advance agent announcing
financial terms upon which spiritual blessings may be vouch-
safed, and continues by opening executive offices, advertising
in most flamboyant manner, conducting banquets at two dol-
lars a plate from the workers, supplying energetic press agents
to regale the public with melodramatic stories which too often
give the simple truth an attack of chills and fever; this evangel-
ism includes leaders of the ministry of song, who drag the sacred-
ness of the worship of praise into the slum of vulgar, vaude-
ville emotionalism; who make horse play a modern synonym
for hosanna, and who regard the presence of a crowd as the
demonstration of a mighty overturning of a community in the
interests of righteousness. For this type of evangelism, Congre-
gationalism can have little sympathy, and with it, less partici-
pation. Do we then cease to have sympathy with eager earnest-
ness and with devoted consecration for the salvation of the
world? A thousand times " No." Ours is the evangelism
based on the principle of length of days, of leaven hidden in
the meal, of first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in
the ear; of laboring faithfully and waiting patiently; of finding
the whole man; of relying on a long, hard-fought campaign
rather than upon a brilliant skirmish or a spectacular battle;
of annoimcing the truth, the whole truth, as it is in Jesus; of
cultivating reverence and godly fear; of preaching as living
men to loving men; of organizing the church; of winning the
confidence of society by our sympathy, sincerity, and service;
of dignifying evangelism till it be recogiiized as the great and
abiding business of the church and her ministry, rather than
the occasional eruption of a passing enthusiasm stimulated
and exploited by clever tricks and pious persiflage. The
chance for brave, decisive leadership in this, which Henry
Drummond called fehcitously, the new evangelism, is to-day
enlisting the discriminating and devoted loyalty of many of
our own Congregationahsts who know and teach that the
kingdom of God is not hysteria, or cheapness of any kind, but
righteousness, joy, and peace in the Holy Ghost.

Missions,

The recent world conference of missions in Edinburgh marked
the beginning of a new era in missionary venture and conquest.

20 ADDRESS OF THE MODERATOR. [1913.

Probably no meeting in modern times has so arrested the
serious attention of the world, never before was the missionary
responsibility, or problem, or hope, so particularly delineated
and so convincingly set in array. The challenge of the majestic
opportunity which has been placed within the ability of Christ's
disciples by the new possibilities of intercommunication be-
tween the nations of the earth, by the crumbling of some old
faiths and by the reinvigoration of others, fairly dazzles the
bewildered gaze of the disciple of his Lord. Our own beloved
American Board has responded to the impulse of the new day,
broadening its work and accentuating its appeal. Our denomi-
nation, too, has responded with money and with men, but
still fields white for the harvest await the reaper's toil because
of the insufficiency of support. Not yet has our denomina-
tion responded at the point of adequate sacrifice to the new
missionary appeal. Not yet have we accepted our full share
of the responsibility which is ours, for the inbringing of the
kingdom of God. We can only hope to be worthy of the
fullness of the blessing of God, as we ourselves offer in the in-
terests of Christ's conquest the overflowing cup of most enthu-
siastic devotion and sacrifice.

But this stimulus for the work of the world inevitably directs
attention to those homeland societies whose business it is to
build and equip our churches and conduct our work in such
fashion that these world-inclusive endeavors may become
possible. The American Board, let it be frankly said, is far
and away our best organized, equipped, and conducted religious
institution. A most casual visit among our churches will
reveal this simple and grateful fact, but side by side with it
is the other fact, equally patent to the observing eye, of the
absolute necessity of most earnest attention to the rehabilita-
tion of our homeland societies that we may save America to
save the world.

The work of the American Board should be decreased not
one whit; it should be, must be, steadily and constantly enlarged;
but this enlarging depends upon such readjustment of our
homeland societies as shall put them in most efficient relation-
ships of fellowship and of cooperation. The passion for the
church at home is the power of the church abroad.

It is here that the high seriousness and grave responsibility

1913.] ADDRESS OF THE MODERATOR. 21

of this Council are most impressingly in evidence. It is here
that the summons is most imperative, to initiate such recon-
structions as shall put our homeland work into most compelling
shape in order that through a redeemed country we may more
effectively minister to a redeemed world.

The Social Question.

The growth of our country in recent years in population,
wealth, comfort, and poverty, has brought us face to face with
situations, opportunities, and problems which are both new and
menacing. However faithful the Church may have been in
her ministries of yesterday, she is confronted with new demands
for the exercise of her sympathy and from different directions.
So slow has been her response, that an impression has gained
a most undesirable headway that she has little interest in the
new situation, and no particular ministry for it. It is on this
account that one hears the declarations of the impotence' and
moribund nature of the church, sometimes mingled with
words of stinging bitterness and of unalloyed hatred. If the
Church has no ministry for suffering humanity under new
conditions; no clarion message of rugged honesty; no ethical
demand for straight righteousness between man and man;
no condemnation direct and unapologizing for pious hypocrites,
no summons to the practice of the law of love in the gainful
occupations of the world; no sense of the indignity of city
slums; no appreciation of the value of the personality of every
last one of the submerged tenth; no commendation for the
rehabilitation of human society, through laws and through
endeavors which represent the intelligent, the humanitarian,
and the scientific advances of the age; if the Church has no
sympathy to extend, and no services to offer in these compara-
tively new fields of hmnan necessity and want, then the Church
is moribund; then the Church is an unfaithful custodian of
the Christ who lived and died for every man, and who had not
in mind the crowned heads, or the favored conmaunities alone,
when he declared, "Ye are of more value than many sparrows."
The very fact that so many church members are finding their
opportunity for practical service in settlement houses, bureaus
of charity, tenement house commissions, boards of arbitration,

22 ADDRESS OF THE MODERATOR. [1913.

and the like, is the testimony of the sense of a relationship to
humanity significant and serviceful, but the appalhng need set
over against the meager ministry is an appeal, pathetic and
irresistible, for a new recognition on the part of the Church of
the situation as it exists in America to-day, and of our high and
sacred privilege uith relation to it. You cannot have aristo-
cratic churches. Christlike and vital, in the midst of democratic
surroundings. The towel and the basin are the real symbol of
the Church of Jesus Christ. The cross is the only sign by which,
and through which, the Church shall conquer.

Church Unity.

The great widespreading and inspiring movement toward
the reunion of Christendom cannot be lightly esteemed in our
Congregational enterprise to-day. Pledged to it by our own
history, b}'^ resolution upon resolution in the annals of our
representative assemblies, and by our loyalty to our own Master,
we stand to-day in the forefront of those Christian bodies
practically interested in the death of schism and the life of a
united brotherhood in the one Church of Christ. The federa-
tion of the Christian churches of America is an augury of the
favorable interest of the churches in this great enterprise, and
should receive the recognition and the sympathetic fellowship
of our body, but at its best, it is a means to an end, and the
ideal of Jesus that his disciples should be one, should never be
permitted to be in eclipse among the faithful. Our faith will
sometime be equal to our Master's prayer, and sooner perhaps
than some of us think the way will be found for the answer to
that prayer " on earth as it is in heaven."

Conclusion.

A sketch hke this of the place of a historic fellowship in the
turgid and bafihng life of the present, suggests the ancient
question, " Who is sufficient for these things? " The answer
presses hard the question, " Those are sufficient who still
cherish and display the ageless spirit of Jesus Christ."

The appeal is to be taken from the spirit of the time to the
deeper spirit of the age. Congregationalism is an experiment
in character beneath the ideals and within the fellowship of

1913.] ADDRESS OF THE MODERATOR. 23

Jesus Christ. One cannot regard the hfe of our denomination
without a mighty impression of the character and caHber of
the men who have molded its widespreading influence. The
intelligence, the comprehensiveness, the loj^alty, the adventure,
the sacrifice, the love, the service of these men, stamps upon
them through their discipleship, the spirit of the Master.

" They found God going along with them." " They trusted
in God and quieted their spirits"; these are the testimonies
to the royalty of these men. They were adequate, and that
which made them adequate will make us adequate too. To be
nobly intelligent in an age unattracted by the knowledge of the
higher things; to be sacrificial in an age which is mild-eyed to-
ward comfort and luxury; to be -willing to be poor, thus making
many rich; to live in straight, determined man fashion, the
gospel of the grace of God; to serve with imf ailing sympathy;
to love with uninterrupted devotion; to live, above the world,
while living in it; to believe in the best things; to work for the
best things, to fight for the best things; to cherish the indwelling
spirit, — this is the way to meet the exigencies of the present
occasion, and to make way for the coming of the King in his
glory. Character — high, brave. Christian character— is at
once the secret of the need, and the solvent of the problems of
our modern life. Congregationalism will grow as her manhood
grows. Little men will accomplish little things. Tall, sun-
crowned, Christ-devoted men will expect great things from
God; they will attempt great things for God; they will arrive.
Increasing loyalty to Jesus Christ, and unswerving devotion
to the interests of his blessed kingdom, is alike the appeal and
the aspiration of modern Congregationalism. Her purpose is
service; her passion, that Christ may be all and in all.

24 THE world's need. [1913.

"THE WORLD'S NEED AND CHRISTIANITY'S OFFER"

REV. CHARLES E. JEFFERSON, D.D., NEW YORK, N. T.

"Oh that I knew where I might find him! " — Job S3 : 3.
"Come and see." — John 1 :39.

My text is two separated sentences. The first is from the Old
Testament, the second is from the New. The first is an excla-
mation, the second an invitation. The first is a sigh, the second
a shout of victory. The first is from the poem of Job, the second
from the Gospel of John. The first is, " Oh that I knew where
I might find him! " The second is, " Come and see! " The
first is the cry of humanity; the second is Christianity's
response.

We must make a distinction between the world's need and
the world's want. The world needs God, but it does not want
him. It wants a thousand things, but he is not in the list.
Its heart is full of yearnings and longings and hungerings, but
it cannot tell what will satisfy them. It is always feeling after
something, if haply it can find it, but it does not know what it
seeks. But here and there in isolated souls, in luminous hours,
this deep unconscious need mounts to a conscious want, the
dumb and indefinite yearning becomes focused and vocal, the
vague and confused moan breaks into articulate speech. When-
ever the soul comes to know itself it cries, " Oh that I knew
where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!
I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot
perceive him; on the left hand, where he doth work, but I
cannot behold him; he hideth himself on the right hand, that
I cannot see him." Whenever the heart of mankind reaches
conscious and articulate expression, its cry is, " My soul thirst-
eth for God, for the living God! Oh that I knew where I
might find him! "

Christianity goes forth to meet the seeking soul with the
heartening invitation, " Come and see! " These are words of
Jesus addressed by him to two young men who had asked him
where he dwelt. " Come and see," he said, and they followed
him. What he said to them, he said to all. The word " Come "

1913.] THE world's need. 25

was always on his lips. When he saw the crowds in Galilee
fagged and scattered he said, " Come, and I will give you rest."
When he saw the multitude in Judea stumbling in the darkness,
he said, " Come, I am the light." When he saw the crowds in
Capernaum hungering for a satisfaction they had never had,
he said, " Come, I am the bread," When he saw the multitude
in Jerusalem athirst on the last great day of the feast, he cried,
" Come and drink! " When those who stood the nearest to
him craved a fuller knowledge of the Eternal and whispered
to him, " Show us the Father and we shall be satisfied," his
reply was, " Come closer and see me. He that hath seen me
hath seen the Father! Come and see! " That was his con-
tinuous exhortation, and after a cloud had received him from
his disciples' eyes, they remembered how again and again the
very heavens seemed to have opened and voices seemed to have
descended from the heights, saying, "Come and see him!
Listen to him! "

"Come and see!" They are the words of the apostles.
The first men who found Jesus, rushed in search of their com-
rades, saying, " Come and see! " If there was reluctance, it
was beaten dovm by a simple repetition of the invitation. The
Samaritan woman having talked a few minutes with Jesus
hurried off to say to everybody she knew, " Oh come and see! "
All the chief characters of the New Testament look out at us
with pleading eyes which say, " Come and see." What is the
New Testament but a passionate and importunate invitation —
" Come and see "?

They are the words of the church. " The Spirit and the
bride say, Come." The church began its working life on the
day on which one young man said to another, " Come and see! "
Through nineteen hundred years the church has grown in size
and power in proportion as Christians have been willing to say
with exultation in their voices, " Come and see! " Humanity
cries: "My soul is athirst for God; Oh that I knew where I
might find him!" Christianity replies, "Come and see."
Our subject is, " The World's Need and Christianity's Offer."

Christianity is fundamentally a doctrine of God. Its founder
devoted his life to telling men about God. Dip dowTi into
Jesus' teaching where you will and you find his thoughts cir-
cling round God. Glance through the Sermon on the Mount

26 THE world's need. ■ [1913.

and note how all its paragraphs climb up to cast their crowns
at the feet of God. " Blessed are the pure in heart." Why?
" They shall see God." " Blessed are the peacemakers."
Why? " They shall be called sons of God." " Let your light
shine before men." Why? " That they may glorify God."
" In all your religious devotions, praying and fasting and alms-
giving, keep your eyes steadily on God. In every prayer, let
God move in the forefront of your supplications." " In the
planning of your life, put God first. You can save yourself
from the plague of a distracted heart only by thinking of God."
" Love everybody, even your enemies." Why? " In order
that you may be like God." " Look upon nature, the lilies, the
birds, the glancing sunbeams and the falling shower — they
will all tell you something about God." To Jesus of Nazareth
there was only one sovereign subject, — God. Men to-day
criticise him because he said little about the family, and nothing
about art, or commerce, or education, or politics, or science, or
recreation, the great kingdoms of life which attract and hold
the thought of our day. But suppose the supreme need of the
world is a knowledge of God, and that Jesus came into the world
for the express purpose of supplying that knowledge. Suppose
that when men accept his conception of God, everything else
needed will be added. We have no right to condemn him
because he did not tell us everything, if he told us the one thing
which is indispensable, and the thing which if followed will lead
to everything else.

The men whom Jesus sent into the world followed his example.
Paul was the greatest of them, and we know from his letters
and sermons that he was always thinking about God, speaking
to him, singing to him, speaking about him, working for him.
The secret of his life comes out in the shipwreck: " Be of good
cheer. I have a message from God whose I am, and whom I
serve." He engages in long and perilous missionary journeys
in order that he may tell men about God. To the simple folk
in Asia Minor he says, " We have come to turn you to the living
God, who made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things
that are therein; and who gives us rain and fruitful seasons, and
fills our hearts with food and gladness." He stands in Athens,
the intellectual center of the world, and there his subject is God.
Athens is renowned for her learning, but to Paul she is sunken

1913.] THE world's need. 27

in ignorance. She does not laiow God. He dims the shimmer of
her monumental marbles by flashing on them the naked splendor
of the name of the God in whom all men live and move and
have their being. He stands in Rome, the mistress of the world,
— Rome the mighty, Rome the eternal — and to Paul she is
impotent. She does not know God. He is not impressed by
her triumphal arches or thrilled by the return of her victorious
generals. He knows that no nation marches in a triumphal
procession which is ignorant of God. " I am in debt to you, 0
imperial city. I have something which you do not possess.
Let me tell you something about God." Is he not always
saying, " I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of
God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, accept-
able unto God, which is your reasonable service"; or "We
pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God " ; or " There
is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all,
who is over all, and through all, and in you all "? Paul is a
great thinker, a master logician, but he cannot go up the stair-
way of an argument without pausing to sing a hymn or offer up a
prayer to God. Doxologies drop spontaneously from his pen.
Here is one, " Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift."
Here is another: " 0 the depth of the riches both of the wis-
dom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judg-
ments, and his ways past finding out! Of him and through
him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory and honor for
ever. Amen."

Who is this God who sets this man's heart beating? He
is the Father of Jesus Christ. That is Paul's name for him.
Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and in the son the father is re-
vealed. The disposition of Jesus is the disposition of the Al-
mighty. The attitude of Jesus is the attitude of the Infinite.
The character of Jesus is the character of Deity. Jesus is the
express image of God's person. In him dwells all the fulness
of the godhead bodily. He is God manifest in the flesh. Paul
knows nothing but Jesus Christ, because to him Jesus Christ is
the revelation of God. The message of Paul and of all the
Apostles was: " Come and see. Come and see God in Christ."

Would it be correct to say that this is the message of the
Bible, and that it is the only authoritative message which the
Bible has to give? We have never dealt with the Bible quite

28 THE world's need. [1913.

fairly, for we have always persisted in making it speak with
authority on too many things. By forcing it into realms into
which it has no desire to enter, and putting into its mouth a
message it does not want to speak, we have made it a stumbling
block to thousands of honest hearts and have brought the
church often into bewilderment and sometimes into disre-
pute. Men have said: This is a book of political science. It
lays down the lines along which states must be built. This
theocracj^ of Moses is undoubtedly the creation of God, and the
builders of states must come here for instruction. All these
legislative enactments such as, Thou shalt not suffer a witch to
live, and others like it, are binding, of course, on all generations.
So the Puritans thought. Alas! nearly all the tragedies of
Puritan history sprang from the mistaken conception of the
Scriptures. They made the Bible teach too much.

It has been said. This is a book of natural science. It teaches
us about the world in which we live. What it says about the
earth and the sea and the sky must be true. The geologist
must come here, and so must the astronomer, and the biologist,
and the zoologist, and the paleontologist, and all the rest of
them, for the Bible is inspired, and it cannot be mistaken in
regard to the sequence of events in the drama of creation, or in
any other statement which it makes on the processes or
the facts of the natural world. Alas! that whole disgraceful
story of the conflict between science and theology which has
been scattered over the world and which has done more to
discredit the church than any argument which infidelity has
framed in the long sweep of two thousand years would never
have been written had not the custodians of the Bible forced the
book into realms in which it has no message. The Bible does
not claim to teach science. Science is not in all the thoughts
of prophets or poets or apostles. Each of them used the scienti-
fic conceptions of his day incidentally as he hurried on to tell
his •'generation something about God. The Bible leaves us
absolutely free to accept every fact which science can discover.

But surely the Bible is a manual of church government.
Christ could not found a church without explicit instructions
as to its officers, its polity and its lines of administration. Thus
men have reasoned, and have searched the Scriptures to find
out what the ideal church govermnent is. One man has been

1913.] THE world's need. 29

impressed by the statement that Christ gave the keys to Peter,
and from this he has inferred that the keys have been passed
along a line of Peter's successors and are- held to-day by the
Bishop of Rome. Another man is impressed by the word
" Episkopos " or " bishop." There were bishops in the first
century, and, therefore, there must be bishops in all centuries.
Without a bishop there can be no church. Another has seized
upon the word " presbyter " or " elder," and has settled down
in the conviction that without a presbytery the church cannot
be pleasing to God. Still another has found in the word
" congregation " a revelation of the divine will, contending that
Congregationalism alone is apostolic and is the ideal to which
Christendom must ultimately come. The fact is that the New
Testament is not a teacher of church government. Jesus said
nothing at all about it, and what Paul said was said incidentally
and with an eye on the local needs of his day. The church is
free to organize itself along whatever lines seem most likely to
enable it to best fulfill the purposes of God in Christ.

But is the Bible not a book of social legislation? Does it
not prescribe the rules by which we are to be governed? Does
it not condemn the things which are wrong, and commend the
things which are right? This has been the accepted opinion.
Slavery, therefore, must be right, for neither Jesus nor Paul
condemned it. Ministerial education is unnecessary, for neither
Jesus nor Paul commanded it. Celibacy is holier than mar-
riage; if not, why did Paul say it is better to remain unmarried?
Women have no right to speak in the churches; if they have,
why did Paul forbid them? " What damned error, but some
sober brow will bless it and approve it with a text!" It is the
scandal and tragedy of history that the Bible has been forced in
each succeeding generation to speak with authority on questions
outside its province. That is why we needed a new view of the
Bible. We had to have it. We could not get on with the old
one. Modem scholarship has set us free. No longer can Bible
sentences be twisted into fetters, and its paragraphs piled up
across the path of forward-looking men. The Bible has but one
message; it tells us the character and will of God. And be-
cause man is the child of God it reveals also the soul and goal of
man. It lays down no rules at all. It proclaims a few simple
principles, all of them rooted in its view of God. Its many

30 THE world's need. [1913.

voices melt into one clear and musical appeal, " Come and see
the mind and heart of God! "

What is the mission of the church? Here we must make
a distinction between Christian men as individuals and the
church in its corporate capacity. What is the mission of the
Christian society? What ought it to do? The popular answer
is: It ought to do everything which humanity needs to have
done. It is a servant, and it must minister to the entire gamut
of human needs. It must put down, every evil, and run on
every errand, and work at every noble task; it must enlist under
every banner, for only thus can it fulfill the wish of Christ.
The answer is plausible, but mistaken. It commits the same
kind of blunder which was committed by the theory that the
Bible ought to teach everything. Our fathers made the Bible
teach ever>i:hing, and they landed the church in confusion.
We cannot make the church do everything without bringing
upon it weakness and disaster. When you say the church
ought to do everything, you ignore the fact that there are other
institutions in this world, also of divine origin, and to which
God has given something to do. The family is here, and the
state, and the university, and society, and these have tasks
assigned them no less obligatory than the task which is as-
signed to the church. The church cannot do the work of the
home or of the state or of the university or of society.
It renders its best service to those institutions when it per-
forms its own work with fidelity and zeal. And what is
its work? To make known the character of God; to build up
the God-life in human hearts; to convert God as a tradition
into God as an experience; to transform God as a name into
God as a power; to spiritualize all the kingdoms of this world
that they may cast their crowns at his feet. To build the
Christian conception of God in the heart of America, that is
the foremost work of the American church, and its crowning
work is to build this conception in the heart of the world. Why
do we send missionaries to foreign lands? To give them the
Christian idea of God. It is easy to interest the non-Christian
world in our inventions, to fascinate it with our science, to
relieve its physical distresses by our material remedies, but the
supreme work of missionaries is to give men our conception of
God. Medical and industrial missions fulfill their supreme

1913.] TOE world's need. 31

purpose only as they lead up to God. If we do not give Mo-
hammedans and Buddhists and Confucianists our idea of God,
we have not given them the best thing we have, nor have we
given them the one thing needful. Give them our inventions
and discoveries and remedies, and you embellish the outside of
the cup and the platter, but open their hearts to God in Christ,
and they will of their own accord bring forth in the fulness of
time hospitals and schools and all the other finer fruits of a
Christian civilization. The American Board has one august
task: baptizing nations into the name of the God who has been
revealed to the world in Jesus Christ. A generation ago certain
timorous souls feared that we might cut the nerve of missions
by altering our interpretations of a few Bible texts. They were
mistaken. You cannot cut the nerve of missions except by
dimming the face of God. So long as men see the glory of God
shining in the face of Jesus Christ, they will go to the ends of the
earth to work for him. So long as they see him who although
he was rich yet for our sakes became poor that we through his
poverty might be rich, they will lay down for him their fortunes
and their lives. The vast non-Christian world cries day and
night, " Oh that I knew where I might find him." The Ameri-
can Board, an angel of the Lord, goes forth saying, " Come and
see! "

The crjdng need of the twentieth century is a living and
adequate doctrine of God. Men are all confused in their
religious thinking. The seventeenth century theology has
collapsed. The old ideas of deity are untenable. Doctrines
which thrilled men even a hundred years ago do not create the
slightest stir in the hearts of the men of the present generation.
The idea of God has to be thought out again in the light of our
larger knowledge.

Science has given us a new world. The world of Dante
and Thomas Aquinas has vanished. The world is no longer
the center, but a mere speck of dust on the flaming wheel of a
universe too vast even to be imagined. The universe was once
cozy and homelike. God was on his throne in heaven only a
short distance off, looking down upon the children of men, now
and then interposing on their behalf, getting them out of dif-
ficulties, and giving them new revelations of his glory. To such
a God it was easy to look up. But now there is no " down "

32 THE world's need. [1913.

and no " up," no throne which can be located, no God which
can be pictured. Philosophers talk to us about the immanent
God, but v/e hardly know what that means. We lose him in
his creation. In the illimitable universe which modern science
has unveiled, men are painfully trying to walk, but it is with
many stumblings and falls. " Oh that I knew where I might
find him! " This is the piercing cry of the twentieth century
heart, and science gives no answer. The astronomer sweeps
the heavens with his telescope and says, " He is not here."
The biologist sweeps the floor of the world of the infinitesimal
with his microscope, and says, " He is not here." Science
says, " I go forward but he is not there; backward, but I do
not perceive him. Something is at work on the left hand, but
I cannot behold him; and something is hidden on the right
hand, but I cannot see him." Materialism is revolting, deism
is incredible, pantheism is unsatisfying. The world is waiting
for a living doctrine of God.

The most difficult article in our creed is the first one, " I
believe in God." Men need more assistance at that point than
at any other. Outsiders are looking wistfully toward the church
Avondering if she has anything clear and positive to say about
God. Justin Martyr had this experience. " I put myself
in the hands of a stoic," he tells us, "and I stayed a long time
with him, but when I got no further in the matter of God [and
he used to say this knowledge was not necessary] I left him."
The preacher of the twentieth century cannot hope permanently
to hold men unless he has a message about God. The members
of our churches need constant instruction concerning the Eter-
nal. All the difficulties of the religious life are rooted in de-
fective views of God. When men in the first century told Jesus
the3^ could not believe in immortality, he told them it was be-
cause they did not understand the power of God. When
his disciples cried, " Impossible! " he said certain things seemed
to them impossible because they were leaving God out. Men
to-day have trouble about prayer because they think mistakenly
of God. They are perplexed by their spiritual experiences
largelj'- because they think unworthily of God. Ministers are
ordained teachers of God. If they do not give men right views
of God they shirk their work. The church needs nothing so
much to-day as theologians in the pulpit.

1913.] THE world's need. 33

It is hard to accept the Christian idea of God. Those who
think the most know this best. The universe which science has
uncovered is a vast machine. Its wheels turn inexorably and
remorselessly. The winds are pitiless and the stars are cold.
Not only is nature indifferent to our cries, but she is red in
tooth and claw. She shrieks against the Christian creed.
To be sure, there are in nature soft and tender voices, hints
of a great heart behind, but only he who has ears to hear can
hear them. Historj^ shrieks even louder than nature. It is
longer than we supposed; how long, no man knows. The few
millenniums sanctioned by the old clironology have been
stretched out into ages, and cycles, and aeons, and from the
beginning the life of man on earth has been tragedy. The
atrocities and massacres and butcheries of the last year are
only lurid illustrations of what has always been. The earth
has been soaked again and again with blood. Pyramids have
been built of human skulls. Empires have risen only to sink in
smoke and agony. Races have flourished for a season and then
vanished into oblivion. When one stands in the midst of the
vast plain of human history, with the tombs of empires and
races at his feet, and the past rises before him, hideous and gory,
it is not easy to say, " God is love." It is hard to stand be-
tween the vast machine of nature and the vast slaughter house
of history and say with a voice which does not falter, " I believe
in God the Father Almighty." I do not wonder that Ritschl's
favorite text was," Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbehef."
A friend once said to F. W. H. Myers, " What is the thing which
above all others 3^ou most desire to know? If you could ask the
Sphinx one question, and one onlj'-, what would that question
be? His reply was, " I think it would be this: Is the universe
friendly? " Mr. Dan Cra-^^ord, in talking one day to the
black men of Central Africa about the love of God, was inter-
rupted by a man in the congregation whose hut had been struck
by lightning a few days before, and consumed. The man
protested against the idea of a loving God, for to him God had
come down, he said, "with red eyes." There is always some
one in every congregation to whom God has come down with
red eyes.

The doctrine of Christ has to be restated. For the last fifty
years science has been giving us a higher and higher conception

34 THE world's need. [1913.

of the power which Hes at the back of things, sweeping away
the hmitations which had been imposed in the earUer stages of
thought. Through the same period, historical criticism has
been vivifying the hmitations of Jesus, reminding us all the
time that he was not omnipresent, omniscient, or omnipotent.
The deity of God and the humanity of Jesus are to-day at the
front, and they clash. How can the God who created the
constellations, and who upholds them in space, who fainteth
not, neither is weary, be identified with the frail man who sat
weary at the well? In what sense is Jesus God? What do you
mean when you say that Jesus is divine? Those are questions
stirring in the hearts of the young people in all our schools and
colleges. The whole doctrine of Jesus Christ must be worked
out afresh in the light of modern conceptions. It may be that
the difficulties are not so great as they seem. It may be that
omnipresence, and omniscience, and omnipotence are not the
essence of deity. A demon might be omnipresent, a devil
might be omniscient, a fiend might be omnipotent. It may be
that only love can be God to us, that love is the essence of deity,
that the animating principle of the universe is personal affec-
tion and good will, and if that be so, the question is. Can perfect
love reveal itself within the hmitations of human flesh? The
answer is, " Come and see."

The need of America is a vision of God. We are a busy
people. We have had a deal to do. We have taken the central
zone of a great continent and subdued it to our will. We have
been obliged to cut down forests, and dig out stumps, and clear
the fields, and bridge the rivers, and tunnel the mountains, and
lay railway tracks, and stretch telegraph wires, and dig canals,
and build mighty cities, and get the house in order. We have
been so cumbered with many cares that we have had little
time to think of the one thing needful. No wonder our spirit
has become materialized by the huge masses of stufi" with which
we have been working.

We have had great temptations. No other people was ever
entrusted with such stores of treasure in the days of its youth
as we. The output of silver and gold and copper and coal,
the crops of wheat and corn and cotton and fruit, the rising
flood of our merchandise, the amazing expansion of our com-
merce, the dazzling masses of wealth accumulated in a few

1913.] THE world's need. 35

generations, all these have been enough to turn the head of any
people. It is scarcely to be wondered at that amidst the glamor
and sparkle of our material splendor, the spiritual values have
often been lost sight of, and the spiritual glories have to many
eyes become misty and dim. What America most needs is
prophets, — men to turn the people to God.

We have been sorely disappointed. Our disillusionment
is heart-breaking. We had expected so much from hberty and
education, and have discovered that they are both broken
reeds. We have found that neither wealth nor science can
bring us either peace or jo3\ Wealth and liberty, education
and science, the four wizards of our modern world, have per-
formed their mightiest miracles under our flag, but the greatest
of all works they cannot accomplish ; they cannot quicken the
conscience, or keep the soul alive to God. We are rich in gold
but poor in conscience, wealthy in knowledge but lacking in the
spirit of sacrifice. Our robes are not washed white in sacrificial
love. Our sins are as scarlet and our vices are red like crimson.
The story of our murders and divorces and thievery in its
thousand forms cry trumpet-tongued against us at the judg-
ment bar. When the whole head is sick and the whole heart is
faint, what we need is men who will turn us to God, that he
may abundantly pardon.

America has four dragons to meet and conquer. The first
is greed; it eats like a cancer in the vitals of our nation. The
second is lust; it burns like a consuming fire* in our blood and
our bones. The third is worldliness, which is always contract-
ing our horizon, and bringing down our standards, and veiling
the faces of spiritual ideals. The fourth is the atheism of
force, the doctrine which declares that national greatness is
founded on naval tonnage, that to put an ironclad in the orien-
tal's eye is a glorious achievement, and that a nation's honor
can be safeguarded by thirteen-inch guns. Money and liberty,
education and science, all stand impotent. Nothing can save
us but faith in the living God, the God who so loved and loves
the world that he gave his son to die on the cross.

What is the mission of Congregationalism? To keep alive
a theory of church govermnent? No; to keep the soul alive
to God. It is often said that Congregationalism is a theory
of church government; that it is foundationed on two princi-

36 THE world's need. [1913.

pies, — the iadependenee of the local church and the equal
sisterhood of these local churches. But these principles are not
foundations. They rest on something deeper. The funda-
mental thing in Congregationalism is a doctrine of God. We
start with a revelation of deity. He is the father of our Lord
Jesus Christ. He has access to all souls, and imparts wisdom
and light and guidance to every obedient heart. Because he
gives his grace freely to every man who comes to him through
Christ, therefore every man has a share in the privilege of
determining what the church officers and worship and work shall
be. Our doctrine of independence grows out of our faith. Our
polit}^ is foundationed on our conception of God.

Our history as a denomination began with a vision of God.
Our fathers saw the Lord high and lifted up. They heard him
say, " Who will go? " and they answered one after another,
each man for himself, " Here am I; send me." But they could
not go. They were hampered by the restrictions of a worldly
church. It then occurred to them that possibly the church
might be altered. They tried to alter it, but it was not possible,
and so they came out of it, and organized another form of
government under which they could do what they believed
God wanted them to do. Our history is rooted in a vision of
God.

The one thing which has given us distinction has been our
devotion to God. The world is filled with the fame of the Pil-
grim fathers. Why? As Lowell finely puts it, " They went in
search of God and not of gold." They began their life in the
new world by drawing up a compact in the cabin of the
Mayflower as she swung at anchor in the harbor of Province-
town. And at the top of the page they wrote this: " In the
name of God, Amen." It was because they followed the gleam
which fell from the throne that they dared to venture over the
perilous edge of the world. They made God a partner in their
hazardous enterprise, and that is why they were never
daunted or defeated. Thej' endured as seeing Him who is
invisible.

Our attitude to the church is determined by our conception
of God. We have never called ourselves churchmen. We
are not idolaters of organization, or sticklers for ancient rites
and ceremonies. We have never allowed forms to hide the

1913.] THE world's need. 37

face of spiritual realities, or to block the doors of present op-
portunities. But we are in fact churchmen, and churchmen of
the very highest school. Our conception of the church is so
lofty, we feel so intensely its heavenly origin and mission, that
we have never for one hour allowed an earthly king to call
himself the head of it, or permitted a parliament to lay a con-
straining hand upon it.

We are free men in Christ. We are not bound by the tradi-
tions of the second century, or the dogmas of the fourth, or
the doctrines of the sixteenth, or the customs of the seventeenth,
or the practices of the eighteenth, or the methods of the nine-
teenth, but are at liberty to build the church along the lines
indicated by the Eternal Spirit speaking in the intelligence and
conscience of our day, so that it shall become more and more an
effective instrument in the hands of God for the promulgation
of his gospel and the extension of his kingdom. The Christian
people are the potter. Church machinery is the clay. The
people have the right to mold the machinery into whatever
form seems most likely best to please the King.

The only capital blunder we have ever made is that we have
sometimes forgotten God. We have frequently forgotten him
in public worship. Praise and prayer have often been consid-
ered preliminaries, mere introductory exercises to be trampled
under the feet of late comers who arrive in time to hear the ser-
mon, fostering the idea that men come to the church of God to
hear something rather than to do something, leading to a demor-
alizing exaltation of the minister and an unwholesome exploita-
tion of the sermon. We are pacing for our sin all over the land.
The currents of our devotional Ufe are in many quarters meager
and thin. We are not strong as we ought to be in adoration,
hope, and thanksgiving.

The sermon-hearing faculties are not so deep seated or so
stable as the worshiping instincts, and the minister who builds
on the former is likelj^ to have his house fall in ruins when the
rains descend and the winds blow and the floods come. Bril-
liant Sunday lectureships flourish for a season, but it is the
worshiping churches which hold the field at the end of the daj'.
The crj^ of the church on the Lord's Day must not be: " Oh,
come hear this interesting man preach! The true invitation
of the church is: ''0 come, let us worship and bow down:

38 THE world's need. [1913.

let us kneel before the I;ord our maker. For he is our God;
and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand."
No matter what the church does on Sunday, it has not done the
highest or the most needed thing if it has not gotten men and
women to kneel before their Maker. It is when the church
kneels in public worship, pouring into the ear of God its con-
fessions and supplications, that the ideals of the community
rise in fresh splendor, and a new song of hope begins to sing
itself in the heart of the town.

We have forgotten God too often in our work. There are
desert stretches in our history. The wheels of our chariots have
dragged again and again in the sand. Ministers get under the
juniper tree, and Sunday-school teachers throw down their
work in despair. How true it is that without vision the people
— ■ both ministers and lajTnen — perish. In one of the darkest
hours before the Civil War Frederick Douglass made a lugubrious
speech in Faneuil Hall, Boston. He had been so often disap-
pointed, and had been obliged to wait so long, that hope had
died in him, and his speech was a moan. Right in the midst of
his lamentations, an old negro mammy in the audience shouted
out at the top of her voice, " Frederick, is God dead? " The
mention of that name, in the twinkling of an eye, blew away the
mists of his despondency^ and taught his heart to sing again.
There is many a church throughout the country that needs
nothing so much as a fresh proclamation of the existence of the
living God.

There are certain present-day tendencies which need to
be watched and counteracted. One of them is a disposition
to suppress all reference to the deity. The European socialist
hates the name of God, and bis brothers and sisters are found
in all of our American cities. There are social settlements here
and there carried on by Christian men and women who dare
not whisper the name of God for fear of giving offense. There
is also a disposition to suppress the name of Christ. The Jews
do not like that name, and why antagonize them by mentioning
it? There is also a disposition to suppress all the great words
of religion, — soul, sin, "heaven, hell, immortality, eternity, —
and limit one's vocabulary to the terms of philanthropy and
ethics. " Why should you use words," well meaning men are
saying, " which irritate and drive apart; why not all come to-

1913.] THE WORLD S NEED. 39

gether, Christians, Jews, agnostics, and work shoulder to shoul-
der for social betterment and municipal reform? Let us do the
works of God with no mention of his name. This is the way that
leads to power and peace ! " Not so thought Dwight L. Moody,
or Charles G. Finney, or Jonathan Edwards, or any of the other
of our princes who spoke with tongues of fire; not so thought
WilHam Bradford, or William Brewster, or John Cotton, or
John Winthrop, or Thomas Shepard, or Thomas Hooker, or
any of the heroes who laid the foundations of New England;
not so thought John AVesley, or any of the tall statured sons of
the Almighty who in the eighteenth century turned the stream
of English life into a new channel. The old warrior heartened
his followers by saying: " The best of all is, God is with us! "
Not so thought BroAvne or Barrowe or Greenwood or Penry or
Robinson or any of the martyrs who came out of the Established
Church without tarrying for any; not so thought Martin Luther,
or John Calvin, or John Knox, or any of the giants who in the
sixteenth century broke the power of ancient despotisms,
and created a soul under the ribs of death; not so thought
Savonarola, or Francis of Assisi, or Francis de Sales, or Bernard
of Clairvaux, or any of the saints of God who lit up the medieval
times by the ineffable splendor of a holy life; not so thought
Augustine, or Jerome, or Tertullian, or Origen, or Cyprian,
or Justin Martyr, or Ignatius, or Polycarp, or any of the intrepid
spirits who stopped the mouths of lions and quenched the vio-
lence of fire and put to flight the armies of the aliens drawn up
to oppose the progress of the new religion making its way up
from Golgotha; not so thought any of the apostles. Listen
to Peter preaching in the street of Jerusalem, saying, " There
is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we
must be saved." He flung into the hooting crowd the magical
name by whose music all the world's discords are some day to
be melted. Listen to Paul preaching in the street of Athens,
saying, " God calls all men everywhere to repent, for he will
judge the world by that man whom he has ordained, and whom
he has raised from the dead." Of course they laughed at him,
but he went on and preached in other cities, never surrendering
until he laid dowTi his life in the capital of the world. " I am
not ashamed of the gospel," — this was his triumphant con-
fession as he journeyed from city to city, and he shouted as he

40 THE world's need. [1913.

fell, " I have kept the faith." Read what John wrote in
Ephesus: " The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us,
(and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of
the Father,) full of grace and truth. No man hath seen God at
any time; the only begotten Son he hath declared him."
We cannot give up the words by which we live and conquer.

They tell us we must socialize religion. This is the way to do
it. The God of the New Testament is a social God — Preach
him ! We are urged to stir the people to social service. This is
the way to do it. When a boy Wendell Phillips heard a sermon
on the soul's responsibility to God, and when he became a man
he struck slavery. We are told to Christianize the social order.
This is the place to begin. The way to Christianize the social
order is to Christianize the souls of men. The social order is
made out of men, and the only men who can be depended on
through the burden of the day and the scorching heat are the
men whose lives are hid with Christ in God.

No preceding generation has ever seen the world so clearly
as we see it. No other century has ever heard the heart-beat
of humanity so distinctly as ours hears it. He that hath ears
to hear, can hear coming up out of the restless, feverish, be-
wildered heart of the world, " Oh that I knew where I might
find him! " Let the Congregational churches of America say
with passion and boldness and rapture, " Come and see! "

1913.1 CHURCH UNITY. 41

CHURCH UNITY.

REV. NEWMAN SMYTH, D.D., NEW HAVEN, CONN.

At last, after three centuries of divisions, and of dreams and
hopes deferred, Church Unity is now made the business of the
churches. It is something to be done, and for this coming
generation to do it. We have been dreaming of it full long
enough on the housetop; the loiock of the world's opportunity
at the door calls us to go down to the street and to make the
vision of a reunited Christianity a visible fact among men.

Already the movement which was initiated three years ago
by the Episcopal Church, and simultaneously by our last Na-
tional Council, has been generally accepted and approved by
many other' churches, and a preliminary organization of com-
missions of these churches has been formed for the express
purpose of taking together the next steps towards unity. They
now have under consideration the methods by which the irenic
formulation of topics which must be discussed, may best be
prepared and presented for common consideration. Carefully,
with much consultation, an advisory committee of repre-
sentatives of over thirty different churches, in connection with
the Executive Committee of the Episcopal Church, are now
making progress in this direction. We have entered hopefully,
with a single desire to be led by the Spirit, a period of mutual
education and endeavor to understand the underljdng values
beneath our differences. We are to learn what are the precious
things that we may receive from others, as well as what we may
have to give to them.

What kind of unity do we want? Just as much as the Lord
may graciously enable us ultimately to bring forth from our
present confusions and divisions. The ideal can be nothing
less real, less vital, less intimate than the ideal which was in the
mind of the Master and Lord, when he prayed that his disci-
ples might be perfected into one, even as the Father and the
Son are one: " As thou, Father, art in me, and 1 in thee."

42 CHURCH UNITY. [1913.

Immediately, practically, as something now to be attained, it
means more than an alliance of churches for common work
outside them all; it means a dynamic unity, — an integration of
churches as churches, intimate and vital enough to enable them
to act as one organized force wherever they ought to be one
Christian power for the sake of the kingdom of God. This
means as much administrative or constitutional union as the
common welfare and service of all the churches may require.
Such unity means not the loss of home rule, or state rights,
where these are desirable; but it does mean for the churches,
like the unity of the nation, power to act as a whole in the
Christian consciousness that we are one people of God in this
world. Our rallying crj' may well be these words, " Not com-
promise, but comprehension; not uniformity, but unity." More
specifically, as immediate objects to be gained, a real and visible
church unity would witness these two manifest fulfillments of
Christ's prayer: intercommunion of believers in Christian
churches of every name, and also a ministry so validated in
each church that, without violation of the scruples of any, it
might be accepted as regular in all the churches.

The way to begin the resumption of church unity is to begin
to resume it. The method is to look every man on the precious
things of others as well as on his own good things. When all
these real things of Christ are brought together in our common
appreciation, our divisive differences will become secondary
matters, and the difficulties of readjusting our separate forms
and polities to one another will no longer prove insurmountable.

Everywhere now there are signs of promise, that another
day of the Son of man cometh. Shall there He find faith
enough among us, now that this greater Christianity is at hand?

1913.1 REASONABLENESS OF PROTESTANT UNION. 43

THE REASONABLENESS OF PROTESTANT UNION.

REV. PETER AINSLIE, D.D., CHRISTIAN CHURCH, BALTIMORE, MD.

Mr. President and Brethren, — I greet you as fellow Chris-
tians; but I am humiliated that there is a denominational
cleavage that separates us. The cleavage is wrong. Against
its continuance I am here to protest. The Church of Christ
has sinned, my church, your church. Division has stolen her
power. Impotency has filled too large a place in her history.
Catholicity has been exchanged for provincialism. But a new
sky now covers us. Never before has there been such an op-
portunity for the church as to-day. A thousand gates have
been flung wdde open. Nineteen hundred years ago, a man from
Macedonia was the lone voice heard, calling to come over and
help us. But to-day voices are heard from every nation on
the globe, calling for help. The church is standing in the gate-
way of her crisis. To meet the issue we must free ourselves
from traditionalism; we must put away our denominational
conceit; we must be patient with each other; we must seek with
all our hearts the guidance of the Holy Spirit — for who are we
but sinners saved by grace?

Others may dissent, but I do not hesitate to affirm that the
greatest issue of modem times is the union of the divided
church. As important as is the tariff, upon which a nation
changes its administration; as important as is international
peace, upon which hinges good fellowship between nations,
neither is as important as the union of Christendom. It holds
priority over every other issue, because in the atmosphere of
the united church will be established social justice, international
peace, and every other principle that has to do vnth the com-
mon good. It is the bed rock of a nation's safety and the per-
petual sign of international brotherhood.

Here is Christ. Unity is the cardinal feature of his program.
He came to abolish the cleavages of our broken race and to
make a brotherhood of all mankind. WTien he prayed, gather-
ing into his arms from all races and nations, he said, " I pray

44 REASONABLENESS OF PROTESTANT UNION. [1913.

that they may all be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in
thee, that they also may be in us; that the world may believe
that thou didst send me." There can be but one interpretation
of this prayer, and that interpretation is that the unity of the
church is necessary to the world's belief that Jesus is the Christ.
The love of Christ in the hearts of men is able to bring all races,
nations, and classes into one flock. The activities of the Holy
Spirit were not bound by the sunrise and the sunset of the first
Pentecost. The power is here and now. Christ is not only the
giver of a program, but the giver of the power to consummate
that program.

It is the spirit of his religion. At the very outset it made an
attack upon the hardest theological and social wall in the world,
when it sought to remove the cleavage between the Jews and
the Samaritans. Had Jesus said, " Ye shall be my witnesses,
both in Jerusalem and in all Judaea and Egypt," it would not
have been so insurmountable, for there was some friendship
between the Jews and the Egyptians. But with significance
Jesus said, " Ye shall be my witnesses, both in Jerusalem and
in all Judsea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the
earth." The Samaritans were the one people whom the Jews
hated above all others in the world, and Jesus lays the roadbed
for the world-wide proclamation of the gospel right through
Samaria. In deference to Jewish prejudice, he might have sent
his disciples from the Judsean port of Joppa to the cities of the
Mediterranean; or he might have sent them overland through
Syria and across into Europe from Asia Minor. But a religion
that could not surmount the deepest prejudices against any
one people would be unfit for any people. The hardest test
must be met at the outset. The power of Christianity to forth-
with level the wall between the Jews and the Samaritans was a
prophecy of its power to remove all cleavages and unite into
one brotherhood all races and nations around the personality
of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Unity is the economic voice of modern times. Political con-
ditions have always exerted great influence on the church,
sometimes for evil and sometimes for good. Imperial Rome
made possible the rise of the Roman Catholic hierarchy, as the
American democracy made possible the rise of the Disciples of
Christ. When Hugo Grotius was laying the foundation of an

1913.] REASONABLENESS OF PROTESTANT UNION. 45

international court, whereby the horrors of war might be miti-
gated and international controversies amicably adjusted, the
church was quickened by this influence to seek for the paths of
peace in her domain, from which sectarian jealousies would be
abolished and in which the Church of Christ would advance in
a united brotherhood for the witnessing to the whole world that
Jesus is the Christ. Three hundred years ago Grotius wrote
his " Rights of War and Peace," but only yesterday was dedi-
cated the Temple of Peace at The Hague. This is only a
contribution, for we recognize that international peace is not
yet. We still hear the booming of cannon and smell the powder
of battle. But we are on the way to the abolition of war.

These great influences have helped in the solution of the prob-
lem of the church. In spite of the pleadings of Calixtus,
Coccejus, Grotius, Chillingworth, Baxter, Locke, Wesley,
Jeremy Taj'lor, the Campbells and others of modem times, we
are still in the midst of unchristian divisions and sectarian
rivalries. But we are on the way to the cure of the open sore
of division in the Church of Christ. Economic conditions sur-
rounding us are forcing us to self-examination as to our methods
and plans of work. The overcrowding of churches in one
locality, the overlapping of territories, the waste of men and
money in the home land, are taking away sacredness from the
call of the church and setting her a beggar upon the doorsteps
of the nation. The economic voices around us are demanding
that we do business at least by the standard of worldly justice
and present-day economy. It is another appeal of the Holy
Spirit to the erring heart of the church.

We are facing such serious problems, both in America and
non-Christian lands, that we are being forced to consider with
equal seriousness the problem of the church. We cannot re-
main indifferent to the conditions around us, lest we be counted
indifferent to Christ. We have a population of little more than
a hundred milHon under the stars and stripes. Several millions
of these are pagans. The Buddhists alone spend forty thousand
dollars annually in missionary work on the Pacific Coast, where
they have seventy-five temples. For a few cents, idols can
be purchased in every American city where Japanese and Chinese
reside. Less than a third of the American population is iden-
tified with organized Christianity, Protestant and Roman

46 REASONABLENESS OF PROTESTANT UNION. [1913.

Catholic. This organized Christianity is divided by such
cleavages, even in the Protestant household, as to make co-
operation in many instances impossible. Yet here is America,
whose glories we sing as though no clouds hung over her sky
and no tasks were before her citizens! America, with forty
different languages spoken under her flag! America, with ten
different colored skins claiming citizenship! America, with
her great social cleavages of the capitalist class, the wage-
earning class, and the submerged class!

Since the Civil War at least thirteen sins among us have in-
creased with alarming rapidity,* and there is no evidence of
shame on the American face in consequence of them. They are
murder, divorce, lynching, labor riots, municipal corruption,
yellow journalism, brutal sports, judicial maladministration,
general lawlessness, consumption of intoxicating liquors, Sunday
desecration, impure shows, and graft. In the first nine of these,
America leads the world. If the slogan is true, " As goes
America, so goes the world," a momentum is now in action which
may go like an avalanche upon the non-Christian nations of the
world, leaving wreckage here and there, unless the Church
unites her forces and forms a breakwater to check the tide of
American iniquity.

The non-Christian nations present problems of even greater
immensity. There are its hundreds of millions unchristian-
ized, with all the accumulated iniquity of centuries of pagan-
ism. Through missionarj^ activities, the non-Christian nations
are rising to their feet like men aroused from a long sleep. The
atmosphere of freedom is fanning their cheeks. They are
hmigering for knowledge like starving men for food. Japan,
China, Korea, India, Persia, Egypt, Turkey, and other non-
Christian nations are establishing governmental systems of
education. Japan alone has more than six million pupils in
her public schools and is the dominant power in the Orient. A
great industrial awakening is sweeping over Asia. Railroads
are being built. Postoffice systems are being established and
newspapers are published in all the large cities of the non-
Christian nations, being read with avidity. The growing spirit
of nationalism is prevalent among the nations of Asia, Africa,
and Latin America. Out of this desire for national independ-

*" National Perils and Hopes," by Wilbur F. Crafts.

1913,1 REASONABLENESS OF PROTESTANT UNION. 47

ence China has overthl•o^vll the Manchuiian dynasty and
entered the sisterhood of the world's repubHcs with the largest
population of any republic on the globe.

These educational, industrial, and political upheavals are
opportunities for the church. They are in a large measure the
results of the missionary activities of the church, and now that
which is pressing most upon the church is to unite her forces in
order that she may inspire and guide the nations to the highest
ideals. It is a critical period in their history. Coming out of
paganism into the light of a new ci\alization, there must be
such guidance as will save them, in their abandonment of the
old religion for the acceptance of the new, from a skepticism
that will make it doubly hard for them to be won to Christ.

Serious conditions face us in Europe. France, the oldest
daughter of the Roman Catholic Church, is said to have only
two million Roman Catholics out of a population of forty mil-
lion. An equally critical condition faces Protestantism in
Germany. Several years ago Dr. Stocker said, " In Germany
Protestantism is sick nigh unto death." Church members there
are made up largely from the aristocracy and the peasantry,
leaving the great middle class with their large commercial in-
terests and education hostile to the church. The same thing
is true in Holland, I am no more interested in the decay of
medieval Christianity than I am in its triumph long centuries
ago. Both are fictitious and have little to do with the religion
for which I am pleading. There was a genuine Christianity
then. There is a genuine Christianity now. The greatest
issue of modern times is the union of that religion. It is no
little task, Alexander's conquest of the world, Columbus' dis-
covery of a western hemisphere, and Livingstone's explorations
of a continent are small things by the side of the movement for
a united church in the leadership of the world.

I verily beUeve the church has been in preparation through
her nearly two thousand years of history to meet the crisis of
this day of her opportunity. The pertinent question is whether
a divided church is able to meet these issues. Every indication
points to the necessity of a united front, both for the salvation
of the church and its world-wide witnessing that Jesus is the
Christ.

The non-Christian nations are feeling the touch of Christ, al-

48 REASONABLENESS OF PROTESTANT UNION. [1913.

though missionary work is only in its beginning. After fifty
years of work in Japan, the church there increased in the last
ten years seventy per cent. China and India have their
thousands of Christians. Little more than thirty years ago,
the gospel was planted in Korea, and to-day there are two
hundred thousand Christians. The fact is being demonstrated
that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one
that believeth. But a divided and sectarian Christianity can-
not be the world's leader without disaster in the task.

We are standing in the atmosphere of a storm. Great clouds
hang heavily in the sky. We are not dealing alone with the
problem of America or of China. It is the problem of the world,
and the world for which Christ died. In the background is the
Cross, and out before us are the countless multitudes with many
languages and from many nations across whom falls the long
shadow of the fact of Calvary, with its mysterious message of
life and hope. Two hundred explanations break forth from
as many communions, with their diversified creeds and names,
which not only adds pathos to the picture, but so complicates
the problem of a rising people as to leave them in many in-
stances among the ruins of their decaying paganism and without
a vision of the new faith in God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The divided church is incompetent to meet the issues in
America or Europe or the non-Christian lands, and her first
business is to find the paths of peace.

We are satisfied with nothing less than the union of all
Christendom, the Holy Orthodox Church of Russia, the Roman
Church, and the Protestant churches. But our first task as
Protestants is the union of Protestantism, which is now divided
into something less than two hundred communions. In a con-
ference called by the Protestant Episcopal Commission at the
Hotel Astor, New York City, last May, Dean Hotovitsky of
the Russian Cathedral and representative of Archbishop
Platon, remarked most sensibly to us that the first step in this
movement toward the realization of Christian unity is for all
Protestants to get together. I believe we Protestants feel that
necessity, and I am frank to say that I do not beUeve that we
will have to go very far to consummate Protestant union.

This union cannot come by the slavery of compromise,
for decisions by compromise of convictions do not have per-

1913.] REASONABLENESS OF PROTESTANT UNION. 49

manency in them. But Protestant union must come by free-
dom and fraternity, based upon the personahty of Jesus Christ
as Lord and Saviour. He said, " If the Son shall make you
free, you shall be free indeed"; and, " By this shall all men
know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."

Neither ordinances, as sacred as they are, nor dogmas, as
large a i^lace in history as they have filled, are the signs of
discipleship, but love among believers, a love like the love of
God — a sacrament as sacred as God himself. To Protestants
the Scriptures have held a place distinct from that of any other
of the divisions of Christendom, and the utterances of this
Book must still fm-nish the basis for the test of loyalty to Jesus
Christ. We may differ in its interpretations, which is the dis-
tinctive right of Protestants. But since we are already one in
its great fundamentals, let us now be one in a brotherhood that
practices patience and long-suffering with each other, having
no creed but the confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of
the Living God, and wearing no name except that which belongs
to the conmaon household of Christ.

Not theology, but religion, is the soil in which Protestant
imion must be planted. Theology is the science of religion,
and upon the science of religion we sometimes chffer. We have
too frequently broken fellowship with each other, established
different paths, and out of our egotism and intolerance we have
hindered the progress of truth, whereas one may radically
change his theology without so much as affecting his religion.
Brotherhood among believers must have the same preeminence
in our lives as has the divinity of Christ. God sent down his
Son to us, and he now waits for us to send up our brotherhood
to tower beside his son. These are the mountain heights out
from which shall sweep the vision of the world's belief that Jesus
is the Christ.

Outward forms cannot be barriers to Christian unity in the
midst of the grave crisis the church now faces. Chi'istian unity
begins inward and works outward. To project baptism, or any
other formal phase of Christianity, into the discussion at this
period as a hindrance to unity is an error, for baptism by im-
mersion or affusion has never been the cause of division. The
Baptists, who stand distinctly for immersion, arose in the
seventeenth century in a desire for freedom in the practice of

50 REASONABLENESS OF PROTESTANT UNION. [1913.

spirituality of religion. In their first years, they practiced
affusion, applying the water only to adults. In this they dif-
fered with many Christians of that day, but immersion was not
practiced by the Baptists until they had become a distinct and
well-established communion. The history of the Disciples of
Christ, the next largest immersion body, is similar. They arose
in the nineteenth century, in a desire for freedom in the prac-
tice of catholicity with all comnmnions at the Lord's Supper
and in evangelistic work. Not for some time afterwards did
baptism receive consideration at their hands. Besides this,
the Baptists and Disciples are no closer together with their
common baptism by immersion than the Congregationalists
and Lutherans with their common psedobaptism. For those
who practice immersion or those who practice affusion to be
sensitive at this point is wrong and betrays wealaiess by both
sides. My appeal is to move the point of sensitiveness away
from the things that have to do wath formal Cliristianity to the
things that have to do \\ith vital Cliristianity. Let us move
the point of sensitiveness to the love of Christ and the love of
believers. Unlove is the poison that is sending a deadly con-
tagion throughout the church, and its abolition is essential to
the fulfillment of the prayer of Jesus.

No, baptism is not the beginning point, nor is the order of
the ministry. In the New Testament order, repentance al-
wa}'^ preceded baptism. When the Chm-ch of Christ, my
church, your church, and every other church, has repented of
its bigotry, its sectarianism and its self -righteousness, it will be
found that baptism, the order of the ministry, and every other
matter that has to do vnth Christian life will right itself. Then,
with the open Bible, we shall be willing to trust each other to do
that thing which he believes is right without breaking fellow-
sliip with him, even if he dissents from our interpretation. But
that which is most immediately before us in this day is to learn
how to get away from our denominational conceit and our de-
nominational meanness. When it has been said. Let that com-
munion without sin cast the first stone, it will be seen that all
the communions will skulk away in guilt, for all have sinned and
come short of the glory of God, — mine, yours, and every other.

I have long since come to the conclusion that many in other
communions have just as much sense as I have and just as much

1913.] REASONABLENESS OF PROTESTANT UNION. 51

religion as I have, consequently I do not propose to continue
scandalizing my Lord by setting up an infallible couit in my
brain and spending my time in passing on the orthodoxy of
those who are proving by their lives to be no less loyal to Christ
than I try to be. The little time I am here in this world, I am
going to try to love men as Christ loved them, and in this
declaration I am in fellowship with multitudes in all com-
munions, irrespective of names and creeds. I have my con-
victions and you have yours. But I propose to allow you to
exercise your convictions with the same freedom that I ask for
myself. I contend that so long as we are loyal to Jesus Christ,
neither yom* convictions as Congregationalists nor mine as a
Disciple of Clmst are sufficient reasons before God for main-
taining division in the Protestant household.

When we have unlearned being ashamed of repentance and
have seen the nobility of its manhness and dignity, it will not
be difficult for your communion, my communion, and every
other communion, to lift our standards so far above our de-
nominational camps that they shall cluster in the pierced
hands of Jesus Christ, who shall mark the way for the union of
a Christendom that shall include the whole family of God on
earth under the undisputed leadership of Him whose we are and
whom we serve.

52 A WORKING BASIS FOR CHURCH UNITY. [1913.

A WORKING BASIS FOR CHURCH UNITY.

REV^ OLIVER HUCKEL, D.D., BALTIMORE, MD.

Many of us feel in these days that we are on the verge of a
mighty revelation of God's will and purpose. The times are
changing more rapidly than some of us ever dreamed possible.
There is a deepening and enlarging vision of the truth of God.
Under the mystery of the workings of the Spirit, there is emerg-
ing a new conciousness of catholicity and unity. No one will
be bold enough to predict the details of the movement, nor
the ultimate form of the united Church of Christ. But it is
surely coming. We are undoubtedly on the threshold of a
greater religious era than the world has yet seen.

These are the days of great and growing unities. The poet-
prophet Tennyson has proclaimed " One God, one law, one
element, and one far-off divine event, to which the whole
creation moves." We are convinced of the unity of law, in
both the natural and the spiritual world, one deep harmony
of action in all the universe, many manifestations, but one
essential law. We are already convinced of the unity of truth,
— that all truth is harmonious and correlative whether in
science or the Scripture or in souls. We are convinced of the
unity of energy, — that all force is one in Nature, correlated
and conserved in myriad manifestations. We are absolutely
sure of the unity of humanity and are moving rapidly toward
organization, — the parliament of man, the federation of the
world. We believe in the unity of the Bible, — not sixty-six
separate volumes, but from beginning to end a unifying spirit
and purpose. We believe in the corporate unity of life and of
time, — • the organic oneness of past, present, and future, a
living principle that binds all together into one essential piece
for time and for eternity. Surely we can also believe in the
coming unity of the church, for the church cannot be forever
divided, separate, partisan, provincial, and still represent God.
There is only one Cross of Christ that stands up in the center of
all human history.

1913.] A WORKING BASIS FOR CHURCH UNITY. 53

Are there some who still feel that church unity is a dream,
a vision, a fond enthusiasm? Certain kinds of church unity
may be an impossible dream, and would be a most calamitous
consummation. But the reasonable and spiritual church unity
for which we pray and work is the unity which God has planned
for his church, for which Christ prayed in that eternal vision
of those who should yet believe on Him in all the ages to come,
— the prayer which shall surely be realized, as God is God.

We know not yet what that coming unity shall be in its
order, form, and organization. God shall give it a body as it
pleaseth him. But we do know of what spirit it shall be, and
we must learn what is our duty to that spirit. We can trust
God for the rest.

No one denies that there are large difficulties in the way of
the organic unity of mankind, — the fierce race-prejudices,
the temperamental differences, the historical animosities and
jealousies, the wars and rumors of war. But nevertheless we do
not lose faith in the ideal and in the reality of human brother-
hood. We believe with all our hearts the eternal truth that
God hath made of one blood all nations. We see likewise vast
difficulties in the way of church unity. It seems a tremendous,
almost a superhmnan task, but it will be accomplished in God's
own good time, and in his own good way. We believe the
eternal truth that he hath made us all in the church of one blood
in Christ Jesus, — that the church is one great family of God.
We must live up to this revealed reality in God's thought
and purpose.

Now certain present movements are inevitably leading us
toward unity. There is a new spirit among the nations, a
growing brotherhood which is often called by the name " inter-
nationalism." It is manifested by the international scientific
meetings, by the international parliamentary union for inter-
national peace, by the international development of the social-
istic propaganda, and labor unions, and by the growing stress
upon the importance of international law. Probably the most
significant note of modern statesmanship was that recently
sent forth by Viscount Haldane, the Lord High Chancellor of
England, in his remarkable addi-ess at Montreal, on the " The
Higher Nationality." It simply means that a new spirit of
unity and community is abroad among the nations.

54 A WORKING BASIS FOR CHURCH UNITY. [1913.

There is also a mystic divine urging toward unity in the
modern sociahzing of Christianity. The awakening of the
social conscience and the passion for social justice means an
end to individualistic and narrow parochial methods. It
means a growing religious solidarity, a practical miity of the
religious forces of the community. The battle for social right-
eousness, the increasing struggle against political corruption
and commercialized vice, must inevitably make for further
unity. No one church or denomination can do this work alone;
all must unite in the great task. It is also very clear that
modern missions are rapidly developing the spirit of unity on
the foreign fields. The necessities of the work, in avoiding
reduplication and waste, and of presenting a united front and
satisfying the national spirit, have forced the Christian de-
nominations on the outposts of the world into new practical
unities of which they had scarcely dreamed. While we are
discussing the matter here, there in some large measure they
are actually accomplishing the thing.

But these are only phases, I believe, of a deeper movement
and spirit in devout and believing souls in all branches and
communions of the church. There is an earnest longing for
fellowship, service, and peace in fullest answer to Christ's
prayer that they all may be one. Out of this deep desire grew
the Evangelical Alliance, the International Sunday-School and
Christian Endeavor movements, the Laymen's Missionary
Movement, and other manifestations of Christian fraternity.
From this same desire grew the Federal Council of the Churches
of Christ, the Edinburgh Conference on World Missions, and
the coming World Conference on Faith and Order which God
may make the most significant of all.

This twentieth century is moving so rapidly that it may
to-day seem a little belated to refer again to the Lambeth
proposals issued in 1888, just twenty-five years ago, but many
of us have a profound respect for the spiritual wisdom and
Christian statesmanship of that document. This proposal
of the Lambeth Conference is still before the churches and is
offered as a practical basis of the data essential to Christian
unity. It was the most substantial advance so far made. Let
us look at it for a moment and see what it may mean to us
Congregationalists .

1913.] A WORKING BASIS FOR CHURCH UNITY. 55

The first proposition, you will remember, was as follows:
The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as containing
all things necessary to salvation, and as being the rule and ulti-
mate standard of faith.

Heartily can most of us accept this first proposition without
any mental reservations. It is perfectly plain. It exploits
no theories of inspiration or revelation. It gives liberty of
prophesying.

The second proposition was this: The Apostles' Creed, as
the baptismal symbol, and the Nicene Creed as the sufficient
statement of the Christian faith. This second proposition
presents no difl[iculty as a general confession and as a monu-
mental expression of the faith of the early centuries. Most
Congregationalists cordially accept these creeds and symbols.
All that we ask is that they be interpreted in the light of the
growing revelation of God's Spirit, and that there be no indi-
vidual subscription to them nor insistence upon minute details.

We Congregationalists have made many creeds and confes-
sions in the course of the generations, the most famous being
the Savoy Confession, the Burial Hill Confession, the Creed
of the Creed Commission of 1883, and the present one, incorpo-
rated in our latest constitution, but none of them are creeds
made to last for all time, but are rather general statements of
what is most surely believed among us at the time when they
are formulated. They are rather interpretations than creeds.
We make a new one about every thirty years to give the needed
emphasis on the Christian truth of the time. But we stand
firmly by the historic confession that has stood the test of the
century. The Apostles' Creed has been used as a symbol of
faith for almost two thousand years. It is accepted by the
world over, by Anglicans, Latins, and Greeks, and it is in-
creasingly becoming the standard for all the communions, as
a general confession for substance of doctrine and for guidance
in religious thoughts. Nothing better has developed in the
course of the ages. It is Biblical in language, simple and
sufficient in scope and statement, and leaves large liberty.

The third proposition was: The two sacraments ordained by
Christ himself, — Baptism and the Lord's Supper, — ministered
with unfailing use of Christ's words at Institution, and of the
elements ordained by him. This proposition is also in full

56 A WORKING BASIS FOR CHURCH UNITY. [1913.

accord with our spirit and traditions. It also allows the largest
liberty in the taste and the special methods of celebration,
while no special theories of the sacraments are insisted upon.

The fourth and final proposition was, — The Historic Episco-
pate, locally adapted in the methods of its administratio7i to the
varying needs of the nations and peoples called of God into the
unity of his church. This proposition is not a pronouncement
on the validity of orders, but a practical call for closer super-
vision of the churches under New Testament directions and
m.ethods. Whatever the episcopate be called, — be it the
presb}i-ery, sjmod, or council, district superintendent or
state superintendent, or plainly the bishop, it represents
something real and needed in all our churches. I am abso-
lutely sure from the observations and experience of twenty
years in the ministry that efficiency in our own communion
would be vastty promoted in many sections of the country, if
not all, by fuller supervision in the method of the historic
episcopate, locally adapted to our needs.

These four propositions, on the Scriptures, the Apostles'
Creed, the Sacraments, and the Historic Episcopate, locally
adapted, were regarded as the essential thing for church unity
in the proposals of twenty-five years ago, and they are still
before us for our consideration. For my own part^ I am fully
prepared to accept the Lambeth proposals as a practical and
sufficient basis of unity. Every one of the four great proposi-
tions, when fairly studied and conscientiously interpreted,
seem most wise and reasonable. But I know that there are
mam^ Congregationalists, as well as Episcopalians, who look
at the matter somewhat differently, and are hoping for a
basis perhaps even more vital and satisfactory after the coming
World Conference.

I regard it as the most significant event in the history of the
church for a hundred years, some may say for a thousand years,
this recent calling by joint commission of the Episcopalians,
with other cooperating commissions, of a World Conference
of all the great communions, — Protestant, Anglican, Roman,
and Greek, — in the interest of church unity. It is the
largest thing yet attempted and prophesies a new spirit in
the world. The date or place has not been settled, but the
invitations have gone out and are being accepted in all parts

1913.] A WORKING BASIS FOR CHURCH UNITY. 57

of the world, so that the whole Church of Christ throughout
all the world is soon to come together in prayer and the spirit
of brotherly love.

The Lambeth proposals were notable and worthy, but the
latest proposals in calling the World Conference are in their
largeness of spirit still more remarkable; for they leave the
whole matter open, without any definite overtures, perfectly
free for whatever leadings may come. It is the broadest
proposal of all in the spirit of full humility and of largest
hospitality to the direction and will of the Lord. It recognizes
the possibility of even wiser adjustments and agreements than
the Lambeth proposals.

It may not be fitting or necessary, therefore, in view of the
approaching World Conference, for us or any of the com-
munions to attempt to fix too definitely any list of essentials in
belief or polity, or to formulate any articles or plans of con-
solidation. As Congregationalists we are perfectly willing to
go into this World Conference with the open mind and the
willing heart, feeling confident that all possible plans of ap-
proach will be given full consideration, and that under the
power of prayer and of a deepening love of the brotherhood,
new light will break forth, and the ways of God for the unity of
his church will be clearly discerned.

Now, while we do not attempt definitions, plans, or formulas,
we feel that it may help toward generous and clear-cut thinking
to mention three fundamental principles which may be con-
sidered our special Congregational contribution to the discus-
sion and our special help in solving the problem.

In this consideration of the Congregational contribution
may it be clearly understood that we do not ever expect all
Christians to become ahke in thought or methods,- — -furthest
from all, do we expect all Christians to become Congregational-
ists. But we do believe that there will be room in the coming
church unity for all the various communions, and that there
"^all be appreciation and comprehension of the distinctive
contributions which each communion will make to the larger
life and unity. First, whatever plans or methods may be
adopted for the coming unity of the church, somehow we feel
sure that provision will be made to conserve the complete inde-
pendence and the spiritual authority of the local congregation in

58. A WOEKING BASIS FOR CHURCH UNITY. [1913.

its own sphere. A primary and a supreme truth is this, — that
the individual soul must be reckoned with. God dwells in
the individual soul. The final human authority is the majesty
of the individual soul. Nothing can be higher in authority
on the question on faith and conscience. There is no other
lord over God's heritage but Christ.

As with the individual soul, so the individual congregation.
That wise and earnest apostle of church unity, the late Dr.
Huntington, of New York, clearly recognized this. " The
great truth embedded in Congregationalism," he said in his
famous book on " The Peace of the Church," " and it cannot be
too strongly emphasized, is the sacredness of the ecclesiastical
unit, the individual congregation, — men, women, and chil-
dren under the spiritual headship of a pastor. This is the
rudimentary unit of the visible body of Christ, the group of
souls clustered about one personal center who is the shepherd
of the flock. This fundamental principle is of unspeakable
value. It cannot be forgotten in church unity without disaster.
No aggrandizement of the diocese, or of further organization,
can possibly make up for the loss, if we should lose this central
and fundamental truth of the Congregational position."

Further, we also feel sure that in whatever plans or methods
may be adopted for the coming unity, provision will be made
for absolutely safeguarding the liberties of each communion by a
well-defined and well-understood constitution that shall give ample
guaranty for any desired diversity in worship and work.

The United Church, I am confident, will not forbid the right
of private judgment; it will not abridge conscience rights;
it will not deny the validity of ministries which God himself
has owned and richly blessed; nor the full validity of member-
ship held in any communion of the United Church of Christ.
It will not set up any traditional theories of apostolic succes-
sion or orders, or any invariable forms of baptism, or assump-
tions of infallibility or special interpretation of the sacra-
ments or of Biblical inspiration. It will still allow the liberty
of individual interpretation. Its essentials will be faith in
Christ, and loyalty to him, as God gives the light and con-
science commands.

We look for a church unity deep enough, broad enough, and
high enough to accommodate all the noble but differing in-

1913.] A WORKING BASIS FOR CHURCH UNITY. 59

heritances in the great household of God, and comprehensive
enough to allow the vital and varied developments and move-
ments, and the unique intellectual emphases of individuals
and parties. We need variety, — it is the joy of existence.
We need elasticity, mobility, freedom of experiment and
movement, liberty in worship and in work. Liberty need
not be feared so long as faith is anchored to the living Lord.

We do not believe the coming United Church will have any
uniform ecclesiasticism. It will be a free democratic unity in
the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. It will not
set up any medieval ecclesiastical tyrant under a new guise
to crush intellect and deaden progress, but it wall be a unity
with liberty, where thought, worship, movement, experiment,
and discovery will be as free as the free winds of this great
modem world. Unity and liberty can live together. It is
the very essence of true religion.

And the third contribution which I think our history and
sacrifices clearly prophesy, — There will be ample provision
made for the large service of councils rather than individuals as
the rightly constituted spokesmen and directors of the general
work of the church. We believe that the mind of the church
can only be ascertained and pronounced by a general council
composed of representatives of all the congregations of the
communions, and that the overtures must first originate
with the congregation and be discussed in the general council
and referred again for approval to the congregations before
we have the true mind of the Universal Church.

Those who have been present during these recent days
have felt that this present National Council and its work are a
revelation of the new and larger spirit in the church. The
work that was consummated here yesterday in that significant
moment when our denomination seemed to be born again was
work done not merely for the Congregational fellowship, but
for the whole Church of God. Its large and practical recogni-
tions of the historical continuity of our faith and order, and its
new conciousness of the demands of our growing life for a
closer fellowship and enlarged spiritual and social responsibili-
ties in the work of the church, are all in the line of the growing
unity. Our historic position of hospitable fellowship with all
branches of the Church of Christ who would fellowship with us

60 A WORKING BASIS FOR CHURCH UNITY. [1913.

has been splendidly reemphasized with fresh hope, fresh vision,
and fresh courage because it is felt that the day of the new era
is close at hand.

The Spirit of God is leading us into a deeper and larger
faith in the great fundamentals of vital religion; not to a
compromise of conviction, but to a more exultant proclamation
of the deepest convictions that God has put into the soul,
along with an assurance of respect and tolerance for the con-
victions of others; not to a lessening of individuality, but a
contributing of our noblest heritage of tradition and special
emphases to the whole life of the church; not to a limiting
of freedom, but an entering into a larger and more compre-
hensive freedom in the inexhaustible riches of the varied life
of the future.

Nor will it be any narrowing church libertj^ of a minimum
creed or a uniform worship or polity, but it will be large and
inclusive. Its key-note will be comprehensiveness and catho-
licity. Possibly its one creed will be Jesus Christ, Son of God
and Saviour of the world; its essential worship will be loving
God with all the heart, and our neighbor as ourselves; its
interpretation of essentials will be very vital, and its charity
will be the infinite charity of Christ. Such a united church will
be the mightiest force for righteousness and the coming of
God's kingdom that the world has known.

I cannot altogether bring myself to bewail the sin of schism
in the past and the historical divisions of Christendom. I be-
lieve in God's providence in these things, and our divisions and
denominations are the heroic price that we have paid for liberty.
The separation from a tyrannical and lifeless body is the only
way of free salvation, and of new and abundant life. Surely
the church of God to-day is purer in doctrine, freer in spirit,
more abundant in life, greater in missionary zeal, more interested
in social justice, real brotherhood, and the permanent peace
of the world through the new liberty and life gained through
separation from a formal and lifeless body. But just as surely
as I rejoice in the schism of the past and in the heroic sacrifices
of those who dared it for the sake of liberty, so surely do I
hold that the day is coming, and now is, when schism in the
church of God may and can be healed and must be healed. And
it must be healed, not by giving up what has been obtained by

1913.] A WORKING BASIS FOR CHURCH UNITY. 61

long centuries of struggle and sacrifice, but by including in the
new unity, the full liberty of the sons of God. The conserva-
tive principle of creeds, orders, and sacraments, represented
most fully in historical way by the Roman and AngUcan com-
munions, must be harmonized with the progressive principle
of spiritual liberty and conscience rights represented most
fully by modern Protestantism. The two belong together.
They are supplementary sides of Christian life. Separated,
neither of them is complete. United, they will make a strong,
full-rounded church of the future.

I believe in the remnant. I believe in the value of minorities.
I believe that the remnant and minority in the great church of
God — and by this I now mean the various free Protestant
churchmen of the liberty-loving tjq^e — have had a great
truth to maintain and a great lesson to teach the majority,
— the large Greek and Latin majority of the church. The
lesson has cost heroic suffering, but it has been splendidly
worth it, and the truth thus gained will make a permanent
contribution to the life of the church of the future. There will
be no more unity at the expense of liberty. Liberty has come
to stay in the church of God.

Some, it is true, and especially Professor Rauschenbusch,
have already seen a true American church emerging in these
latter days, as a result of a growing substantial unity between
at least six distinctive bodies in America, — the Methodists,
the Baptists, the Presbyterians, the Disciples, the Congrega-
tionalists, and the German and Dutch Reformed churches,
which present an almost identical type in thought, feeling, es-
sential teaching, and in worship. But those who speak thus
of a new American church seem to exclude on the claims of
their insistence on doctrinal conformity, the Lutherans, the
Episcopalians, and the Roman Catholics from this new group-
ing of the distinctively true American church. The profound
conviction, however, is growing among us that not one group,
however distinctive, but rather all the communions, must be
included in our vision of the coming American church, as well
as in the vision of the coming Church of Christ in all the world.

I believe profoundly that the church unity for which we pray
and work will come as the United Church of the United States;
the United Church of England, with the great cathedrals, the

62 A WORKING BASIS FOR CHURCH UNITY. [1913.

common heritage of all English Christians ; as the United Church
of India, and so on, with great united national churches, until
the full consummation will be the United Church of Christ in
all the world.

It will express itself in a world council, truly ecumenical,
meeting at stated times, or perchance sitting permanently for
world-interests at Jerusalem, or Rome, or London, or New
York, or Peking. It will be more than a parliament of reli-
gions, more than a world's missionary conference, more than a
world conference on faith and order. It ■wall be the living unity
of the United Church of Christ.

We Congregationalists love to insist upon our apostolic
and New Testament origins. We go back in all reverence and
obedience to the earliest New Testament history of the church
for our polity and foundations. We find there our charter for
spiritual independence. But ought we not also to find there,
as it surely is there, the secret and reality of unity — in that
simple faith, and large love, and practical service thatgavethem
all, the living conviction of actual unity with their Lord
and with each other; the glowing sense that the whole church
is one people, one family, the one living body of the living
Christ? Can we not recover this same consciousness? Herein,
as our friend Dr. Newman Smyth earnestly contends, and as
we also believe, is the great hope of the reunion movement.
We cherish our heritage of liberty, but we must remember that
unity is as much in God's plan as liberty. With absolute
loyalty to our deeply loved liberty, for which the fathers
have paid so large a price, we still feel that, as Congregational-
ists, we may well enlarge and deepen our emphasis on unity, —
a unity with a reasonable authority, — in order to promote a
greater efficiency in the service of the kingdom of God.

There are only three possible and practical methods of at-
taining the unit}^ of the church as clearly discerned by those who
have carefully studied the problem. Each has its advocates.
The first method has been called by the one word submission, —
the unconditional surrender of all communions to one communion.
This is the perfectly simple method proposed by our brethren
of the Latin Church, who are willing for our absorption into
them on their owti terms. The second method is confedera-
tion, — a general agreement to work together, each communion

1913.] A WORKING BASIS FOR CHURCH UNITY. 63

preserving its identity, its rights, and its traditions, but counsel-
ing together, without authority, on the general interest of the
church. This is merely a modus vivendi, the union of a bundle
of sticks. It has a form and convenience, but it is unstable.
It is not vital or djTiamic.

The third method is the one to which the ^\^sest prophets
are turning, ■ — • consolidation, an organic unity on terms of perfect
equality with the preservation of whatever is worth while in the
history and individuality of each communion, and behind all a
broad and strong constitution, guaranteeing the rights and
liberties of every individual congregation and communion,
allowing all desired diversity in worship and work. Such a
consolidation is analogous to the system of our representative
government in the state, ■ — a more perfect union than federa-
tion or confederation, a vital instead of a mechanical union,
and one doubtless leading to great national churches, such
as the United Church of the United States, one part of the
United Church of Christ throughout the world.

We do not laiow the ways and methods by which consolida-
tion may be accomplished, but is it not likely that it will be
along the natural converging lines of a growing spirituality?
Will it not be a spiritual unification grounded in faith, grounded
on love, grounded for service? There will be a spiritual revival,
a spiritual resurrection, before there shall come the real spiritual
unification. We are not so much concerned about the form of
unity as about the spirit of unity. Let us get the spirit of
unity, and the form will take care of itself. Whatever is to
be the large, free, splendid organization, it will come, but only
after the living spirit of imity has first inspired and developed
it. The church unity that is to come will not be merely man-
manufactured, but God-inspired. It will not be a human prod-
uct, but a divine growth. It will not be mechanical, but vital.
It will not be forced by conventions and legislations, by shifting
and compromises, but it will be born in spirituality and liberty.

Somehow I feel profoundly that with the background of an
absolute faith and loyaltj^ to the Lord Jesus Christ, and with
deepening and enlarging spiritual convictions and purposes,
the new advance in Christian unity may well come along the
lines of the social awakening.

The age in which we live does not put the emphasis upon

64 A WORKING BASIS FOR CHURCH UNITY. [1913.

theology as earlier ages did, but rather upon the social message
of Christianity. The vital Christian truth expressed in the
practical terms of social as well as individual regeneration may
well be the uniting outlook and endeavor for the future. Crea-
tive enthusiasm in these days runs along these lines. The
Men and Religion Movement was surprised to discover in its
months of earnest work that evangelism, missions, and Bible
study did not get nearly the response from the men of the
churches as did the call for applied Christianity and social
justice. But we do well to remember that back of all applied
Christianity and social justice must be strong faith in the Holy
God and in his divine purpose in the world. Back of all social
regenerations must be the eternal God and elemental religion.
Ethics, sociology, and legislation will never save the world.
The only saving power is spiritual passion grounded in the
life, the spirit, the truth of the gospel of God.

Here are some of the things for which the whole church of
God should stand. Are they not as important as any theologic
formulas of doctrine? The United Church of God must stand for
equal rights and absolute justice for all men, without distinction
of race, color, or creed. The United Church of God must stand
for the protection of the family, for the sacredness of jnarriage,
for the care of the child and the aged. The United Church of God
must stand for the laboring classes as well as for the capital classes,
for cooperation rather than com,petition, for more healthfid con-
dition of labor, and for more equitable distribution of the profits
of industry. The United Church of God must stand for civic
righteousness, for commercial honesty both personal and corporate,
for the brotherhood of nations, for international arbitration and the
permanent peace of the world.

Such things as these are great, vital, and universal in their
appeal and necessity. They are worthy of the united action
of the United Church of God. They bring before us the fact
that while past centuries may have been content to spend their
time on creed and polity, we have greater issues before us in
these tremendous modem days of social upheaval and the
passion for reality. These things that we have just named are a
new declaration of faith in God and man, a new confession of
practical Christianity to be put side by side the Magna Charta,
the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, yea, along

1913.] A WORiaNG BASIS FOR CHURCH UNITY. 65

with the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount
for they are derived from them and founded upon them. This
is the gospel creed of human brotherhood, which in some form
the United Church of the future wdll sureh^ proclaim.

Would it not be a real unity if the whole world should recog-
nize such unity by the united spirit of loving service, and bear
■witness: " These are all brethren, — in all these varying com-
munions. They love one another, they work with one another,
they are all united to bring the w^hole world into brotherhood,
loving-ldndness, and peace. They are all children of God,
brothers of the divine Christ. They are all one family in spirit,
life, fellowship, purpose." When such a consummation has
come, would not our Lord's prayer be abundantly answered?

The church is moving on steadily through the centuries
toward a majestic goal. You may stand on the deck of an
ocean steamer in mid-Atlantic, as some one has suggested, and
look out over the stretches of the ocean before you, and you
will see no port ahead. You ma}'^ stand thus and gaze for
many long days and yet see no signs of the port. But there is
an actual port ahead and you are moving toward it. The wake
of the vessel publishes the course you are taking, and the chart
and compass confirm the direction to the desired haven. The
fulfillment of the prayer of Christ is the goal. We are moving
on. We cannot as yet see the desired haven in sight, but we are
mo\'ing, with chart and compass. And a divine Captain is at
the helm. We are moving on. Some day we shall arrive.

Our present working basis for church unity, therefore, is not
to be a series of propositions, but the spirit of prayer and of
faith, the spirit of sjnnpathy and intelligent appreciation, the
spirit of the open mind and the hospitable heart, the spirit of
brotherliness and fellowship in ser\'ice for humanity. And, to
this end, are not such things as these in order? First, (he
cordial recognition of all those who confess Christ, and seek to
follow him, as brethren in the Lord, and members of the one Church
of Christ, whatever their special communion may be. Indeed,
we may bring to light the vision of church unity by writing
ourselves plainly as merely communions of the one Church of
Christ, We are not the Congregational Church, but the Con-
gregational communion of the Church of Christ, while others are
the Baptist communion, or the Presbyterian communion, or the

66 A WORKING BASIS FOR CHURCH UNITY. [1913.

Episcopal communion of the Church of Christ. Secondly, our
working basis ought also to include cordial cooperation together in
all practical ways. We believe in the immense value of church
federation. It is an advance in the right direction, and its
function, we believe, is to be permanent. It is one part of
church unity, a practical expression of social Christianity, but
we do not feel that federation is the end. Real church unity
will carry it still further. Thirdly, the working basis will still
further include a serious and sympathetic study of each other in
the great and lesser communions in order to understand each other,
to appreciate each other, and to see how richly God has blessed
each communion in some special way in order to enrich us all at
last in the full-rounded inheritance.

We need a widespread and thorough campaign of education
toward mutual appreciation. This work should begin with
our theological seminaries, which are often too largely partisan
and sectarian. There ought to be speedily established in every
seminary a chair of Christian irenics to study the denomina-
tional history and life of all the communions, to discover
their special emphasis and message, and to consider the pos-
sible methods of approach and cooperation among them. It
may mean a generation or two of such patient and persistent
teaching before the new leaders of the church get the full
vision. A like campaign ought to go vigorously forward
through our individual congregations, conferences, and conven-
tions in the spirit of prayer, sympathy, largest appreciation, and
courageous hopefulness. The same work has a great field in
literature and the press. Manj^ of our religious journals are
pathetically partisan and provincial. It will need systematic
and persistent work for many years to change the atmosplierc
and to broaden the vision of the reading public.

When we gain more knowledge of each other, we shall see
that the life of the church is destined to become richer and
fuller because of its denominations. It is not so now, because
each denomination is limited and sectional in its views and
sympathies. But when mutual sympathy and appreciation
take hold of all the denominations, and they realize that each
belongs to all and all to each, then they will pour their varied
gifts, traditions, and heritages into the common treasury of
the life of the whole church ; they will rise to a combined wealth

1913.] A WORKING BASIS FOR CHURCH UNITY. 67

of experience, of largeness of truth, of abundance of life, whicli
hitherto has never been felt or known. Then we shall see that
the separation for awhile was a divine providence for the pur-
pose of a fuller unity, as flowers are sometimes separated in
special pots for greater vitality and growth.

We shall also see what a superb and imperial heritage is ours
in the whole Church of God. However precious may be our
denominational tradition and inheritance in the historic past,
however rich may be our contribution to the church life, yet
we must realize that the whole inheritance of the church is so
much greater and grander. The wide fellowship of the com-
munions is the great inspiration, and the supreme inheritance of
the united families of the church is the varied life, the enriched
thinking, the deepened fervor of worship and of work, from the
devout minds and hearts of all the ages.

The Church of God will be one great united marching host,
the army of the Lord, a mighty company of soldiers, like the
Crusaders of old, men of the East, men of the West, different
shields, different banners, but over all the one baimer of the
cross, all one in aim and purpose, bound together not so much
by intellectual formulas nor by uniform ceremonies, as by a
united spirit of loyalty to our common Lord, and by a united
spirit of service to Him and to all them for whom He died.
This marching host will have its leaders, its government and
discipline, but it will be a great loving fellowship, praying
together, singing together, worldng together in the mighty
brotherhood of Christ.

Let us keep the exultant and inspiring vision before us.
There is only one church in the world, only one church in God's
sight, only one church truly called in the name of Christ. It
is not Congregational or Presbyterian or Methodist or Baptist
or Episcopalian or Latin or Greek, but all of them together
is the living fellowship of Christ. Perhaps we do not see the
vision clearly, but we are marching on and climbing upward.
We are like a company (as some one has said) who are climbing
a great mountain from different sides. There is much under-
brush and some thick forests on the ascent, vision is much
obscured by the shadows, and the climbers are scarcely seen or
recognized, but now and then comes a little clearing and a
partial vision. As we keep on in the ascent, we are uncon-

68 A WORKING BASIS FOR CHURCH UNITY. [l913.

sciously coming closer together. The underbrush lessens, the
forests are not so dense, the shadows become lighter. And
now the prospect widens. At last we reach the heights of
spiritual attainment and we come together, and the vision is
one. We see eye to eye, and from the summit we behold one
great, broad outlook into the heavens of truth, and the whole
world beneath us and around us, — the great, needy, suffering
world for which Christ died, — and in the midst thereof, in
the midst of all history and of all humanity, rises high the
eternal Cross of the Crucified.

1913.] THE LEADER AND HIS TASK. ' 69

THE LEADER AND HIS TASK.

REV. CARL S. PATTON, D.D., COLUMBUS, OHIO.

I start with the assumption that the minister is a leader.
Other men may have his abihty, his energy, his consecration;
if he accomphshes more for the kingdom of God than they it is
because he has been put in command. He is a leader. And
starting with this assumption I wish to ask the simple, perhaps
the superfluous, questions. In what spirit shall he come to this
leadership? and In what shall he lead? These questions I ask
not alone for the benefit of those of us who are entrusted with
this leadership, but equally for those of you without whose in-
telligent and loyal following our leadership comes to nought.
If I speak in part, as I can hardly help speaking, to the ministers,
I hope I shall speak much more /or them.

You can always tell a leader, by a certain high-hearted en-
thusiasm with which he comes to his task, for it is no part of
the business of a leader to halt his army in the midst of a cam-
paign, or on the eve of battle, and in the presence not only of
the army, but of the general pubhc, and even of the enemy, to
discuss whether the army is as good as it used to be, and whether
he and the rest of the leaders are really leading it anyw^here.
In any army except the army of the Lord, a man who would
do that would be cashiered on the spot. If a man feels this
way about it, it is written on the face of him that he is not a
leader, and it is no wonder people will not follow him.

I have watched with growing astonishment this endless dis-
cussion of recent years about the Christian church, this count-
ing of noses, this compiling of statistics, this standing or falling
by the Y ear-Book, this talk of a time in our boyhood, or in some-
body's boyhood, when there was nobody outside the church
who ought to have been inside, and nobody inside who ought
to have been outside, when the church was without spot or
wrinkle, and ever3i;hing was lovely and divine — and of how
all this is changed, the church fallen upon evil times, her leader-
ship disputed, her prestige gone, men now careless of her past

70 THE LEADER AND HIS TASK. [1913.

glory and indifferent to her future power; — I have heard this
talk from platform and pulpit, in church services and in great
conventions; I have read it in papers and magazines, sacred
and secular, — with all the alleged reasons and the appropriate
laments and prognostications — and I have never believed
A WORD OF IT. Who Can really put himself back into his boy-
hood home and surromidings, to estimate rightly the moral
character and the spiritual influence of the people who were
inside and outside of his father's church, forty years ago? I
know this, at least, that every attempt at genuine historical
inquirj^ into this matter, — like that of our Mr. Hardy in his
" Churches and Educated Men," tends absolutely to dissipate
this superstition about the ancient glory and the modern de-
cline of the Christian church. I can speak for only those com-
munities in which I have lived; but in those communities, four
out of five of the men who edit the newspapers, and teach the
schools, and build the railroads, and meet the big pajrroUs, and
hand down the decisions from the bench, and put up the sky-
scrapers, and in every other honorable way make the commu-
nity, are in the church, — not used to be in the good old days
when it was no distinction to be pious because it was so com-
mon, — but are in the church right now. Of a church in one
community, an old resident said to me not a year ago, " No
man ever stood at the head of the intellectual or professional
or business life of this to%\Ti who didn't go to this church." I
think he exaggerated. But I do believe that if we had all out-
grown the primitive instinct that leads men to find the golden
age in the past, we should see that when everything is considered,
— the motives that bring men into churches and that keep
them out, the standards that are set, the enlarging conceptions
of Christian life and discipleship, — the church never in any age
stood so well as it does in this. Sometimes I feel that perhaps
I ought not to feel so good as I do about the church when so
many better men seem to feel bad ; but try as hard as I may, —
even under the influence of statistics, which can almost always
make me feel bad upon any subject, — try as hard as I may,
I cannot get up any feeling of anxietj^ about the Christian
church, — not even the Congregational church. I believe
there are more good men and women in the Christian church
to-day, and that they know better what they are there for, and

1913.] THE LEADER AND HIS TASK. 71

that they are there for a larger and finer and more truly Chris-
tian thing, than ever before.

Even if this were not so I should not feel bad. Do we not
know that there are tides in all the affairs of men, — that art,
literature, science, invention, education, all that we call civili-
zation, has its ups and downs? And do we not know that
religion is a part of this general spiritual life of mankind, and
must now and then partake of this same undulating motion?
Do we not know that society will always have the institutions
it needs to express the spirit within it, — can never be kept
from having such institutions as will express it, nor made to
have such institutions as "will not? Have we never our sus-
picion that perhaps God is not exclusively a Congregationalist,
or even a Protestant, but also a Catholic and a Jew? Do we
not believe in God outside the chm'ches as within them, and in
Jesus Christ the great captain of our salvation, and in the
unshakable truth and power of the Christian religion? And
if we do, why should the figm'es in the Year-Book ever throw
us into a chill? I would those figures were so large that even
Asher Anderson could not add them up. I would they in-
creased miraculously, till a new system of mathematics had to
be invented to compute them. Even so, that would not add
anything to my conviction that we lead the greatest army that
ever marched.

And, feeling so, I am led to remind you that there is such a
thing as creating a situation, by talking as if it existed. If
every business man in Kansas City should go on to the street
to-morrow morning and say to every other business man,
" There is a terribly bad feeling in the market; nobody has any
confidence in anybody else or in the outlook for business; if
you've got any money, hold on to it tight," — how long would
business be good in Kansas City? The editor writes that
nobody reads good books any more, only novels and news-
papers. The average man reads this statement a dozen times,
and thinks, " If nobody reads these good books any more there
can't be much in them; novels and newspapers for me." The
lecturer says, " Nobody listens to good music any more, noth-
ing but ragtime." The average man hears this statement, and
argues, " Everybody has some sense. This good music that
nobody listens to these days must have been the kind of which

72 THE LEADER AND HIS TASK. [1913.

Mark Twain said that it really was so much better than it
sounded. Ragtime for me." So the preacher says, "Nobody
goes to church any more; people care more these days for baseball
and picture shows than for religion"; and the man in whom some
embers of his father's and mother's religion were still smolder-
ing says to himself, " Well, I'm sorry that the old thing has
gone by the board, but a place that nobody goes to is certainly
no place for me to go." Now, what I want to know, is, why
should we ministers take a hand in this? If anybody, by un-
wise and pessimistic utterances about the Cln-istian church, is
to bring it into disrepute, we are the last men to help. We
should leave that to men who have to earn their living by writ-
ing magazine articles, or who eke out their salaries by lecturing
and cannot think of anything more startling to say. It is our
business to lead.

In what, then, are we going to lead?

First, we are to lead in the social and industrial reconstruc-
tion. Nobody doubts that this is coming. But the more I see
of it, and the way it comes and the way it doesn't come, the
more complicated it looks to me. Some men have a way of
talking as if the wrongs of society were all on one side. No
matter on which side you put them, that is too simple. Some
men, perhaps some ministers, have a way of implying that the
total unrest of the modern world is somebody's fault; perhaps
even the fault of a few men if we only loiew just whom, — of a
group of labor leaders, perhaps, or a group of capitalists, the
heads of a few of our greatest corporations, or the members of
our churches, or somebody; if these persons, so the implication
runs, had only done something that they didn't do, or had only
refrained from doing something they did, we should have
escaped all the social troubles in the midst of which we find
ourselves. I do not believe it. I look back over the social
development of the last fifty years as well as I can, and I cannot
see what those simple things were, or who the people are who
could and should have done them, by which all this modern
conflict might have been avoided. Not that no mistakes have
been made, and no bad blood shown, but that mistakes and
bad blood and all the rest of it have shared that semi-inevitable
character that belongs to all great social movements. I do not
even admit, as some men claim, that all that is needed is good-

1913. J THE LEADER AND HIS TASK. 73

will. God IcnoA^'s that is often sadly needed, and it is our busi-
ness to supply as much of it as we can. But much else is needed,
and light and leading most of all. To many men in the midst
of this struggle, fighting to keep their heads above water, and
pay their bills and keep their credit good, it is not apparent
where all this industrial movement is coming out, nor how it is
to arrive there, nor what is to happen to them and how they are
to conduct themselves in the process. Complicated, I say, and
growing more so every day; much mixture of motives, much
confusion of sentiment, much uncertainty as to ultimate out-
come or immediate dutj^, most predictions probably to be dis-
credited by the future. Ministers, we are told, should study
sociology in the seminaries. Yes, they should study it all their
lives; in books, in trades-union journals, in the offices and fac-
tories of their own parishioners, and the back alleys of their
own towns, — a life-long study.

And why should ministers bother about all this? Why does
OUR leadership involve us in so delicate and difficult a matter?
Because, beneath every ramification and detail, the social ques-
tion is a moral question. Upon what terms shall people live
together in the earth? How shall they divide up the common
living, and where shall the privileges and the opportmiities and
where shall the drudgery and the hopelessness, go? It is this
question that stirs beneath every surface movement of the
social and industrial world. To understand these movements
as well as we can, to point men constantly to the moral question
that lies beneath them, to hold up bright and burnished the
human and the spiritual aspects of the whole thing, so that men
engrossed in care and anxious only about the outcome of this
month's business or this fall's strike cannot fail to see them, and
to do all this with such good nature and good sense, without
pessimism or fault-finding, and in a way to mitigate bitterness
and throw light on all sides, — and to win not only the applause
of those men outside our chiu-ches who would not care if every
church door were nailed up, but also the sober approval of the
hard-headed business men of our own congregations, that is a
part of the task, — a most delicate and difficult part of ,the
task, of a leader in the church of to-day.

And the second field in which we are to lead is the field of
religious thought. We have been told for twenty years that

74 THE LEADER AND HIS TASK. [1913.

this is an age of transition. Perhaps it is. Perhaps every age
is. Perhaps tliis is more so than most ages. If it is, it cer-
tainly takes it a good while to make the transit. I am more
and more impressed vnih. the fact that if you and I wait till
this age of transition is past, and things in the realm of religious
ideas have settled down again, the people whom you and I
ought to lead will be dead and bmied, and we will be with
them wherever they are, before we have led them. The only
time WE can lead anybody is now. Let the age be one of transi-
tion, or not, as you choose, is there any reason why we should
not tell our people, now, all that we know or can learn about
the Christian rehgion, — its origin, its history, its philosophy,
its literature? Isn't there every reason why we should?

There is certainly enough happening in this realm, if our
eyes are open to it. Whatever questions have been settled in
the last thirty years, more questions have been opened. Most
of us can remember when the attention of the great biblical
scholars of America and Europe was directed primarily, almost
exclusively, to the Old Testament. Was the law older or
younger than the prophets? Was there one Isaiah, or were
there two, or were there a whole lot of them? Could the
documentary hypothesis substantiate itself? Did the Hebrew
literature rest at many points upon old Babylonian tradition?
Whether these questions have all been settled yet or not, the
burning interest of biblical scholars has turned from the Old
Testament to the New. And in the New Testament it is cen-
tered in the Gospels. Men are still writing about the theology
of Paul, and that will be a fascinating and a worthy theme,
world without end. But the men who are turning in one direc-
tion or another the growing thought of the church, are writing
about the Gospels. How shall we account for the difference,
now more clearly recognized than ever before, between the
fourth Gospel and the other three? Of the synoptic Gospels,
was any one written by an eyewitness of the life of Jesus?
What period of time elapsed between the great events they
record, and their publication? How near back to the actual
life of Jesus can we trace them, and exactly what kind and degree
of historical accuracy is to be expected in them? Out of all
that is now known as to the origin and development of the New
Testament, does any further light fall upon the great character

1913.] THE LEADER AND HIS TASK. 75

that stands at the center of it? Are the ethics of Jesus, con-
ceived in a time so utterly unhke our own, and in the light of
expectations for this world and the next which we do not
share, applicable to our world of to-day, and will they work
in it?

And there are larger questions than these, — though not
more important. Behind every man's theology stands a
philosophj^ of some sort; not necessarily an articulated or a
stated philosophy, but a point of view from which every detail
gets its meaning and its color, — a view of the world as a world,
or the universe as a universe. It looks to me like a time of
break-up, or at least of very serious reconsideration, in this
field that lies back of theology. For many generations some
form of idealism has held this field. Disputed now and then,
but never really threatened, by some form of materialism or
agnosticism, idealism has guaranteed for us those premises of
God and the primacy of the spirit upon which all our theologies
have been built. I find now a new kind of naturalism, not
naive and easily dissipated like the old, but wise from much
philosophical discussion and with a great body of scientific
thought solidly behind it. I find pragmatism, not altogether
agreed within itself, but popularized by much brilliant wnting
and voluminous publication. And I find, latest of all, a " new
realism," so christened by its o^vti parents; and all these, wdth
an enthusiasm and a confidence as new as themselves, disput-
ing the field with our old friend and ally, Idealism. What all
this movement of philosophic thought wall amount to before
it is finished, I cannot say. No minister in his right mind will
drag into his pulpit the discussion of remote philosophical
themes, especially of such as may prove to be but of the day
or the hour. But all this philosophical ferment means the
emergence and the dominance of new points of view, and the
restatement of old truths in terms made familiar by modem
thought. And back of and within it all, in the mind of even
the average man, if he be an intelligent man, some such ques-
tions as these are stirring: What do we mean by God? How
shall revelation be conceived? W^hat is the relation of the
divine spirit to those currents of thought and interest that
sweep across our own times? Are the old statements, time-
honored and noble as they are, suflBcient to express for us our

76 THE LEADER AND HIS TASK. [1913.

growing sense of the majesty and the lowliness, the supreme
divinity and the absolute humanity, of Jesus?

I am not pleading that any man should take one particular
side in all this. He may be progressive, he may be conserva-
tive. But we deceive ourselves if we imagine our people have
never heard of these things, and that we can let them alone
without bringing Christianity into intellectual disrepute.
Probably some ministers rush unwisely into these deep things.
I recall an old ministerial acquaintance of mine, just then out
of a position, who said to me in all seriousness, " If you know
any church that wants to be plunged into all the troubles of
modern philosophical thought and led through all the doubts
of the higher criticism, I am the man that can lead them." I
was compelled to tell him that I did not know of any such
church. But, however mi wisely some of us may undertake
this task of intellectual leadership, those of us who through
conservatism, or from fear of failing in it, or (excuse the im-
pUcation) because we don't know these things ourselves, or for
whatever other reason however plausible, fail to undertake it
at all, have thrown away one of the greatest opportunities of
our leadership. I am not concerned that my hearers shall
think just as I do about the Christian religion; but I am anxious
that they should think about it. I want them to know, and
never to forget, that Christianity is not moored in a quiet
eddy up toward the source of some Uttle inland stream, but
stands boldly and squarely out to sea, where every wind of
human inquiry may sweep it fore and aft. I want those great
majestic themes, of God, of Jesus Christ, of the Scriptures, of
human destiny, that have stirred the souls of deep-thinking
men in all the ages, to appeal powerfully to the man trained in
the methods, and bringing with him the presuppositions, of the
world of modern thought. I want him to think about all
these, and I want him to think under the leadership of the
Christian ministry. We do not want in this country, and
especially we do not want in the Congregational church, a
situation that has been allowed to come about in some other
parts of the world, — a body of earnest scholars in the pulpit,
keeping quiet about what they have learned, a body of earnest,
devout people in the pews, uninstructed, and between the two
a great gulf of silent misunderstanding. People want to know.

1913.] THE LEADER AND HIS TASK, 77

The}^ want to think. Christian people want to know and under-
stand about the Christian reUgion. It is our task to lead them.
What patience, what skill, what good sense, what genuine
interest in the progress of the truth and in the welfare of the
individual soul, what gift of silence as well as of speech, — in one
word, what grace of God, is necessary for the man who would
lead people rightly in their religious thinking! But it is part
of our task, and we cannot shirk it.

And there is still another path over which we must lead our
people, a path older but not by any means easier than these
two of which I have been spealdng. We must still be leaders
in the old, old lesson of personal religion, — of piety, deep and
simple and sufficient; of reverence and thankfulness and trust.
Say what we ^\dll about anything and ever\^hing else, this is
the heart of religion ; — has been so ever since one of our
spiritual ancestors wandered from Ur of the Chaldees, or an-
other of them gathered figs and looked up at the sky on the
plains of Tekoa; will be for our children still, no matter what
social and intellectual changes shall come between our days
and theirs. I wonder if it is as easy for a minister to keep this
himself, and so to lead his people to it and in it, as it used to be.
Those simple times of the New Testament, for instance, —
great with a new hope and pulsating with the sense of the divine
presence, barren and meager in many things that make our
modern life rich, but rich in a peace and quietness to which
our hearts are strangers, — it must have been easy, I think,
to be pious, in those days. So in the days of our grandfathers
in New England. But the world in which we live, and the
background against which we see it, and the voices that call
to us out of it, and the currents that sweep across it, are all so
different ! Was there ever an age in Christian history when even
to good men the point of view of Jesus and the apostles was
naturally so imnatural as in this age of ours? To all this I
have only to say, that the more difficult, in the face of our
modem times, is the simple trust our fathers felt, the more in-
dispensable it is for every one of us. The more we are tempted
to forget it, in the multitude of our social services and the
pressure of our intellectual needs, the more we realize that with-
out^it there is, in our hearts and in our churches, no genuine
and abiding power. Ah, here is a leadership — doubtless in

78 THE LEADER AND HIS TASK. [l913.

all the rest, but here especially — in which we need the leader-
ship of a Spirit larger, and wiser, and sweeter, than our owti.

And if you say now that I have not made the task of the
leader of these days an easy one, I can only reply, that, if there
ever was an age that was not an age of transition, in which there
were no great battles to fight, and when two questions did not
rise up for every one that was laid, — when there was no up-
heaval, social, industrial, intellectual, when all things con-
tinued as they were since the fathers fell asleep, and no cry for
light and guidance came up from the hearts of good men be-
cause every one was simple and easy and plain, — why, those
were the days, if there were any such, when a man of energy
and red blood would not have cared much to be a minister.
Now is the time, beloved; the accepted time, the only time,
the best and greatest time, for our leadership. Our difficul-
ties are our opportunities, and we must see them so.

And you who have set us apart for this leadership, of you we
ask, not your pity, your commiseration, nor your unthinking
loyalty, but your discriminating cooperation and your intelli-
gent following. If in the exercise of this leadership we stir you
up now and then on things concerning which you would rather
have been let alone; if we make you think about matters con-
cerning which you would have been content not to think; if
we say some things that you do not believe and cannot accept;
if your feet instinctively draw back now and again from the
untrodden path down which we would lead you, — do not be
suspicious of us, or hold yourselves aloof from us, but give us
your companionship, your counsel, and above all your confi-
dence; and we will lead you, not always with perfect wisdom,
but at least with such wisdom as God shall give to us. And
may the Leader of all the leaders, and of all the led, crown our
work, and save our souls, in truth. Amen.

1913.1 MINISTERIAL ANNUITIES. 79

MINISTERIAL ANNUITIES.

REV. FRANK J. GOODWIN, D.D., NEW JERSEY.

I. The question of ministerial annuities is a question of the
efficiency of our leadership. As is the leader, so is the church.
Cut the nerve of the leader and the vigor of the whole church
is impaired; make the man at the head strong, the organization
he guides becomes mighty. An army is the living expression
of its general. '' Better an army of deer led bj^ a lion than an
army of lions led by a deer." Personality counts; its quality
and fiber are invaluable assets. Wellington considered the
presence of Napoleon in battle equal to a reinforcement of
thirty thousand men.

Even the most ardent champion of extreme Congregational
democracy must admit this. The minister may often be no
better than the men he leads; but he is the leader, and whatever
weakens him as a leader, weakens the congregation he influences
and controls. Fill his heart with courage and hope, the whole
church is baptized with power.

The plan to look after the minister's old age, or disability
before old age, affects his efficiency. It aims to free his mind
from unnecessary anxiety and to prevent him from being
wounded through his love for his family. The value of his
work will be doubled; his heart will be stout, because it is un-
troubled. It was not Richard's sword which conquered
Saladin, but the arm behind the sword, and the lion heart back
of the arm. The proposed Annuity Fund will increase the
minister's efficiency because it will free his heart from fear.

II. But the necessity of providing for the minister's old age
and disability, and caring for his widow and children, is not
admitted by all.

1. The mercenary spirit is opposed to it. Many churches
love to quote, " The laborer is worthy of liis hire." They slur
" laborer " and whisper " worthy," but they come out strong
on "hire." By them the minister is esteemed as he was by an
imperious woman of wealth, who said that they hired a new

80 MINISTERIAL ANNUITIES. [1913.

minister in her church as she hired a new coachman. Men of
this ilk are insistent that the minister should preserve the finest
traditions of the old pastoral relationship between minister and
people; his heart must be touched with a divine sentiment.
But when it comes to the business part of the profession, where
the church is to give and not to receive, then the minister is
coolly reminded that " business is business " and '' the church
must be run on business principles," which too often means on
" bargain-counter " business principles.

2. Then there are the ecclesiastical politicians, who believe
in keeping a minister humble. They scent priestcraft in his
growing power; he must not be allowed to be too self-reliant or
masterful. " Keep the minister under " is their cry. The
result is the church does not allow its old veterans to have even
that " condition of honorable poverty " which Frangois Copp^e,
writing of the old soldiers of France, says is reserved " by the
state for the men who have best served her."

3. Parochial selfishness puts up its hands of protest against
provision for the minister's old age. Every church for itself,
and the " devil take the hindmost." In this case the hindmost
is the minister. To such churches, incapacitated old age, the
ministerial " dead line," — that smug phrase for parochial rest-
lessness, — " the rainy day " are all meaningless phrases. The
individual church must live at any cost; it is out for able men,
and it cares nothing for those it does not employ. A fine young
man of modern tj^ie, peisonally attractive, once expressed the
creed of the church in which he was an officer: " We don't want
any man more than three years; we can squeeze all the good out
of him in that time." And a choice and sainted woman speak-
ing of their young minister said with pious satisfaction : " At any
rate, we are getting the best years of our minister's life. ' '

Such parishes literally devour our minister's youth and
strength. They treat them with the same bloodless extrava-
gance with which our democracy serves its public men.

" And it sounds the refrain with a pitiless roar
He's only a preacher, we'll find plenty more."

And find them we do. In the Congregational Church our doors
are open to the four corners of the denominational world. We
can get all the men we want of any age or ability. We can do

1913.] MINISTERIAL ANNUITIES. 81

what we want with our own mmisters, — use them, neglect
them, discard them, — our consciences will never be troubled;
we will not even be conscious of the loss. We can get plenty
more! Men in every denomination -look with hungry eyes
at our rich pastoral fields. Why should we look after our own
Congregational ministers? We can get along without any Con-
gregational ministers at all if we want to do so. The sinister
philosophy is complete! Every parish liveth and every parish
dieth to itself.

4. Then there is the Pecksniffian view. The minister
enters the ministry to sacrifice himself. If you make his years
of active service a joy, and his old age peaceful and secure, you
paganize him, rob him of his spirituality, minister to his self-
ishness, and strip from his shoulders the robes of prophetic
consecration.

But he would be bold indeed who openly would affirm that
the spirit of sacrifice has departed from the ministry of our day.
The old fire still burns in their breasts, and some of the choicest
souls God ever created are to-day bearing witness to the un-
searchable riches of Christ's love in lives of noblest devotion and
self-denial. The facts must not be evaded. The ministry is
not only willing to make sacrifices, but it is making them. But
as Dr. Joseph Wilson Cochran says with such searching vigor:
" Sacrifice to be worthy of the name must be of a pure and ex-
alted character. It must be worthy of the cause. It must be
occasioned by a sinful world, not by a selfish church. It must
be the hurt and sorrow imposed by the enemies of the faith,
not by its friends. The wounds must come from the front, not
from the rear."

But this is not the whole story. Selfishness is in the church
and we cannot " drive out hmnan nature with a pitclifork."
But we can use the pitchfork to gather in the harvest of good
feeling and love for our conscientious and devoted ministers.
Our appeal must be to the men of " honest and good heart "
who fill our churches and who look with peculiar solicitude
upon the material circumstances of our clergymen, and who are
anxious that some advance should be made in the movement
to enable the Christian ministry to become in fact, as it is in
ideal, the most glorious of all the professions which offer an
open door for wide and enduring influence.

82 MINISTERIAL ANNUITIES. [1913.

As stated in the report before us, the plan proposed is in out-
line as follows :

1. The plan as proposed contemplates, when completed, —

(1) An annuity (or -annual payment until death) of five
hundred dollars ($500) beginning at sixty-five years of age, for
ministers who have served Congregational Churches at least
thirty years. For ministers who have served less than thirty
years, an annuity of one hundred dollars ($100) beginning at
the age of sixty-five, with ten dollars ($10) additional for each
year of service.

(2) A disability annuity of $100, with $10 additional for
each year of service in Congregational Churches over five
years, the total not to exceed $500.

(3) In case of the death of the minister, an annuity for the
widow of three fifths of what would be due and payable to him
as an annuitant, this amount continuing to the minor children
in the event of the death or remarriage of the widow.

2. We have at present no new fund to start this annuity plan,
and the funds of the Ministerial Relief Society are inviolably
pledged to the specific work of ministerial relief or pensions to
aged and disabled ministers.

It is proposed, therefore, to begin the operation of the annuity
fund by securing not less than three hundred ministers who will
become members and who will make regular annual payments.

Such payments by the ministers will be sufficient to make
effective one fifth, or twenty per cent, of the proposed benefits.
The other four fifths, or eighty per cent, must be supplied by
the churches and individual givers.

In offering such a plan it must be recognized that we have
certain limitations to our action.

1. We need a plan which can be put in force at once.

2. We have no new or special funds for this purpose, and
we cannot capitalize the good name of the Congregational
Churches by forming ourselves into a quasi-life insurance com-
pany, trusting to the generosity of our church to make good all
that we desire to offer to our ministers. We certainly would be
capitalizing the good name of the Congregational Churches if,
without regard to the experience of life insurance companies
and the principles on which they are based, we should endeavor
without money to arrange for future annuities. There are

1913.] MINISTERIAL ANNUITIES. 83

laws of mortality as there are laws of life, and actuaries have
reduced these laws to a science. To ignore these facts would
be to court certain failure and to disappoint those ministers who
in good faith and with confidence in our church's integrity
should engage to enter into any plan which we might propose.
Too many financial ventures have been capitalized with hope,
" common," and promises, " preferred." We must not add
another to the long list.

3. We are limited also in starting the fund by the circum-
stance that ministers, from their careful manner of life, are
such an excellent risk. This would be to our advantage were we
inaugurating a life insurance company. But as the report well
says: while, in a life insurance policy, the better the risk the
more profitable the policy is to the company, in an annuity,
the better the risk the longer the annuitant lives and the more
he costs the company. The fact, therefore, that we are arrang-
ing for annuities, not for life insurance policies, is an added
difficulty in granting large benefits to the members of the fund.

4. In starting the fund we have to reckon also with the
condition that many of our members are ineligible because of
age or present physical disability; while others are already
carrying life insurance policies which more than eat up the
amount they can properly allow for future savings.

But with all these limitations, the excellencies of the plan are
evident :

1. The age of sixty-five as the time when old age annuities
will be payable. The Presbj^terian Church put the age at
seventy, but they are already considering the advisability of
changing to sixty-five. The road to three score years and ten
seems too long for the average men to think of traveling before
any^old age annuities can be secured.

2. The amount of the benefits to be received are based on
years of service. This method is at once democratic and fair.
We draw[no distinctions as to salary. Length of service is the
only title to aristocracy in the fund.

3. The plan is based on the cooperation of the minister and
the church. The minister is not a beneficiary merely; he is an
integral part of the machinery. The church does not contribute
all that he is to receive, but it strives to help him while he is
helping himself. As the plan becomes better understood and

84 MINISTEKIAL ANNUITIES. [1913.

is more firmly established on a strong financial basis, more min-
isters will become members; and as the conscience of the church
is touched and its intellectual assent to the wisdom of the fund
is more firmly gained, there will be a growth in church contribu-
tions and individual gifts and bequests.

4. Immediate action is secured. As quickly as the original
three hundred subscribers can be gained, the fund can be in-
augurated. The payments which the ministers make — which
is one fifth of the necessary amount of payments to be made —
^^ arranges for " one fifth of the full benefits hoped for. In
reality, these pajTuents by the ministers as good as guarantee
the benefits they " arrange for." We simply do not employ
the word " guarantee," because the word implies the binding
force of a contract; but, as a matter of fact, the actuary's figures
are such that this payment of twenty per cent by the minister
with almost a certainty arranges for twenty per cent or one
fifth of the benefits proposed. Even if the church should fail
to come up to its expected contribution, the minister will get
all that he -pays for.

5. The wisdom of this plan by which the fund is started with
the ministers' payments is further seen in that it is adapted to
our present Congregational conditions. The Episcopal Church
is planning a large pension fund for its clergymen, but their
scheme implies that an enormous fund must eventually be
raised. In addition to that, the Episcopal Church will be able
to enforce its will, if necessary, by levying an assessment on
the different dioceses. We are at present in the throes of the
apportionment plan, which does not everywhere meet with
favor; and we certainly would find it difficult to place an assess-
ment on our conferences or associations for an annuity fund.

The Methodist Church has its great Book Concern behind its
Ministerial Fund; but we have no parallel income-bearing
institution to come to our aid. The plan presented to us is
both safe and conservative, and is adapted to the temper and
polity of the Congregational churches.

6. Nor must it be forgotten that we are spared the opposi-
tion of the Ministerial Relief Society, such as for a time de-
layed and hindered so materially the annuity plan in the Pres-
byterian Church. The plan before us is proposed by our Board
of Ministerial Relief, which is anxious for its success. All local

1913.] MINISTERIAL ANNUITIES. 85

or state Ministerial Relief Societies, and all associations which
may have tentative annuity plans, should bend Iheir energies
to aid this central plan, representing the entire CongTegational
ministry, that there may be no " overlooking " of opportunities
to help our pastors, and no " overlapping " or duplicating in
the work done to furnish them annuities.

With all these excellencies, there are a few seeming defects
in the plan which must not be passed by without comment.

1. Some of the most enthusiastic supporters of the annuity
idea favor turning this work over to some good life insurance
companies which make a specialty of annuities, the church to do
its part by increasmg the benefits which they may provide; or by
assisting the minister in making their necessary annual pay-
ments ; or b}' contributing to both benefits and amiual payments.
There is much to be said for this scheme. We would thereby
be able to take advantage of the experience and assets of these
large companies; and we would save ourselves much labor and
anxiety in administration. On the other hand, whether justly
or unjustly, there is a prejudice in many parts of the country
against the financial methods of life insurance companies. I
do not share in this prejudice, as I am an enthusiastic believer
in life insurance and good life insurance companies. But I
recognize that these opinions must be reckoned with, and the
church would find its already difficult task increased if it put
together a secular life insurance company and a ministerial
annuity.

And furthermore, this problem of annuities cannot be made a
mere matter of business. It must be laid on the heart and
conscience of the church; and the church must not be allowed
even for an instant to think that this plan to provide for its
own presents other than a sacred religious duty for it to per-
form. If the church raises its own money and conducts its
own fund, it will undoubtedly feel more deeply the responsi-
bility which is upon it, and it certainly will more sincerely and
devoutly rejoice when the money is secured by its own sacri-
fice and generosit3^

2. Another seeming defect in the plan proposed is that the
benefits offered are not sufficiently large. But the fund is
limited by its offer of security; that is, we cannot offer more
than we can give for a certain amount of money. Already the

86 MINISTERIAL ANNUITIES. [1913.

rates have been considerably advanced to bring the age for the
beginning of annuities do-wm to sixty-five. Though we do not
propose to become a life insurance company, we are limited by
the actuaries' figures. Nor are the benefits as small as they seem.
When the fund is able to pay the full annuities, it contemplates
giving a maximum annuity of $500 a year, which is equivalent
to $10,000 invested at five per cent; and for the widow a maxi-
mum of $300 a year, or an equivalent of $6,000 invested at
five per cent. Tliis fund wall be invested and ^\^ll be secure.
When we consider that so much money, representing the savings
of years, is frequently lost in poor investments late in life, the
attractiveness of this securely invested fund for the minister
and his family cannot be underestimated.

3. Another seeming defect in the plan is that the rates of
the minister's paj^ments are apparently high, so high that many
of the most needy of our ministers cannot possibly ever join
the fund. This is a most important criticism and must be faced.
It must frankly be admitted that the objection holds good at
the inauguration of the fund; because the greater part of those
who will now desire to enter the fund will be forty years of age
or over, the amiual payments for whom will be so high that in
many cases they "«dll be prohibitive.

But it must be emphatically remarked that we are launching
a plan for many decades to come; and when the young men begin
to come into the fund, they will naturally join from ages of
twenty-five to thirty-five. The rates at these periods are low.
For instance:

For age 25 the minister's payment is $22.13, or $5.86 a quarter.

,, ,, 28 „ ,, ,, ,, $23.70, ,, $6.28 „ ,,

,, ,, 31 „ ,, ,, ,, $26.00, ,, $6.90 „ „

,, ,, 35 ,, ,, ,, ,, $30.28, ,, $8.02 ,, ,,

There may be some young men to whom even these figures
will be high, but they can certainly secure this amount if they
place the fund among the legitimate necessary expenses of their
households, and bend all their energies toward the accomplish-
ment of their purpose.

With the majority this amount can easily be secured. And
the minister will be well repaid, for not only will he receive all
that he pays for at better terms than he would get in a regular

1913.] MINISTERIAL ANNUITIES. 87

life insurance company; but he will secure that legitimate in-
crease of benefits which the generosity, the business sense, and
the gratitude of our churches will make possible by their gifts
and contributions.

In a word, the plan is one for the ministers to start. After
that the church will fall in line. We need three hundred con-
tributing ministers uith whom to begin. Will you join the
Leonidas band?

88 THE CHURCH AND MARRIAGE. [1913.

THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE CHURCH
RESPECTING MARRIAGES.

SIMEON E. BALDWIN.

National Council, Kansas City, October 30, 1913.

Most marriages in the United States are celebrated by min-
isters of religion. In several denominations there are canons of
ecclesiastical procedure which, in large measure, regulate the
mode of celebration and the conditions under which it may be
performed.

The Congregational churches have as yet made no such
provision. So much the greater, therefore, is the responsi-
bility cast upon every Congregational minister, when asked
to conduct a marriage service.

1. The first point to be regarded is that he conducts it, if
at all, as a public agent or official, pursuant to a public law.
With that law he must therefore make himself familiar, and to
it he must scrupulously conform.

In the United States, no special form of words to be used in
the celebration of marriage is anywhere prescribed by the state.
Nor, on the other hand, is the use of any special form forbidden.
A minister is therefore free to use that sanctioned by his church,
if there be one.

The Protestant Reformation swept away, for Protestants,
the theory that marriage was a sacrament. Holland, as early
as 1580, formally allowed civil marriages in certain of her prov-
inces. . The English Commonwealth, under Cromwell, in 1653,
made it obligatory. New England, at its very beginnings,
recognized civil marriage, and practiced it as a custom from
1621,* although it was first expressly sanctioned by law and
made the rule in 1646. Marriages by a minister were unknown
until introduced by a proclamation of President Dudley, dur-
ing the Andros usurpation, in 1686.t

* Bradford, Hist, of Plymouth, Book II, May 12. 1621.
t Howard, Matrimonial Institutions, II, 135, 139.

1913.] THE CHURCH AND MARRIAGE. 89

2. The second point to which I would direct your atten-
tion, is that while ministers, in proceeding to perform a mar-
riage ceremony, are only bound, as far as that civil function is
concerned, to follow the laws of the state in which it is to be
executed, it is highly desirable that, when both parties come
from other states, they should be asked their reason for not
seeking marriage there.

It often happens that a hasty marriage is agreed on, in a
state where a previous notice of some days is required, and has
not — perhaps cannot — be given. A trip to another state,
in such a case, ought not, ordinarily, to be suffered to work an
evasion of the home law.

Similar considerations apply to endeavors to escape the
operation of statutes prohibiting marriages of those related
within certain degrees of affinity, or of minors who have not
obtained parental consent, or of one from whom a divorce has
been granted for the cause of adultery.

On this subject of divorce, the Protestant churches, in re-
fusing to recognize marriage as a sacrament, have left their
ministers a free hand, as long as they keep within the law of the
jurisdiction. Where either party to a divorce is, under the
decree of the court, disqualified from marrying again during
the life of the other, an attempt to do so, whether in the state
granting the divorce or elsewhere, ought not to be counte-
nanced by any minister. A statute is of force only in the state
where it is enacted, and therefore a marriage in a state other
than that where the judgment was rendered is, at common law,
legally valid. It is, however, something contrary to that
spirit of comity and mutual respect which should always char-
acterize the dealings of the authorities of one jurisdiction with
regard to the orders of those of any other. To get at the facts,
no minister ought to marry a divorced person without first
reading a copy of the judgment.

But in most of our American states a divorce for adultery
does not entail a prohibition of remarriage.

What, in such case, is the dutj^ of the minister, by whose aid
such a remarriage may be sought? The rule of the New Testa-
ment, at the first glance, seems clear. It is, however, so only
at the first glance.
Jesus Christ accepted the rules of civil government which he

90 THE CHURCH AND MARRIAGE. [1913.

found established. He was a subject of the Roman empire.
He was for giving to Caesar what belonged to Caesar. Rome
originally committed the power of divorce at will to the Roman
husband. Later, either party could dissolve the marriage re-
lation at pleasure. No judicial decree or action of any public
authoritj^ was required. The Hebrew, in this respect, if not
a Roman citizen, followed the Mosaic law.* When Jesus spoke
of the husband's putting away his wife for adultery and noth-
ing less, he must have had in mind the power of the man under
the then existing usages of Hebrew society and religion. Di-
vorce was a private right. It proceeded from no public author-
ity. To the Jewish husband, who could put away his wife for
any cause, at his own discretion, he said, that he must — to be
a follower of His — use this power only in case of adultery.
He did not assume to pass upon what the state might do.

In modern times, the state denies any right of the husband
to divorce at will. It regards marriage as a civil contract. It
believes it to be best to allow the contract to be dissolved for
certain causes by an impartial public tribunal. In taking this
attitude, it seems to me wholly within its rights. If so, a min-
ister need not scruple, subject to one possible exception, to re-
marry persons who have been divorced, where the civil laws
do not forbid. The possible exception is, of course, where
adultery occurred during the previous marriage. The reason-
ing of Christ seems to me to cover such cases, but the letter of
his words does not.

The official Conference of the Commissioners of the States
on Uniform Legislation, last year, recommended the enactment
in each state of a law forbidding and making void the marriage
there of a person belonging in another state and intending to
return there to live, which would be void in such second state.
This, if generally adopted, will make the duty of a minister,
when asked to officiate at such a marriage, beyond a question.

3. A minister is never bound to marry every one who asks it.
Here he does not occupy the position of a civil officer of the
state, chosen as such for the discharge of a particular function.
A public officer must perform his office. He has assumed that
obligation in accepting the position. He must act or resign.
But a minister is given the right to celebrate marriage, not be-

* See Amran, The Jewish Law of Divorce, 59, 140.

1913.] THE CHURCH AND MARRIAGE. 91

cause he has been chosen a public officer, but because he has
been made an ecclesiastical officer. It is because he is an
ecclesiastical officer that he is authorized to act as a public
agent for this particular purpose. At bottom, it is to satisfy
those who regard marriage as a sacred thing, or go still further
and consider it a sacrament.

No man can be made another's agent without his consent.
No minister is bound to marry people who, he thinks, are not
proper subjects of marriage.

No just analogy exists, in these respects, between what is
due from the clergy under an established church and that owed
by a Protestant minister in this country. The Church of Eng-
land, before and after the era of the Commonwealth, was a part
of the civil government of England. It was not a separate
body. It had no corporate organization. It was simply an
incident of the civil authority. The bishops and priests cele-
brated marriage, as public officers, and as the only authority
by which the ceremony could be performed.

This anciently was the general rule throughout all Christen-
dom.

Another custom, still retained in the Church of England, was
to make it part of the marriage ritual to admonish, and in very
straightforward terms, those about to contract it that, among
its purposes, are to secure the perpetuation of the human race
and to serve as a guard against falling into illicit sexual rela-
tions.

The usages of American society would hardly tolerate this
plainness of speech, but there is a neighboring field into which
it seems to me that the ministers of our churches may enter
with great propriety. Statisticians tell us that a majority of
the men in every civilized country have some time been the
subject of one or the other of the two forms of venereal disease.
To some it has come as an inheritance; to some from infection
accidentally and innocently communicated; to others as a
natural consequence of their own licentiousness. A medical
officer of the Children's Hospital in Melbourne estimates that
in one in seven of the families in that city are cases of syphilitic
infection, and that the taint has seized upon nine out of every
hundred children there. The larger the city, the deeper gen-
erally is the taint. Fifty thousand men and women are an-

92 THE CHURCH AND MARRIAGE. [1913.

nually infected with venereal disease in New York. It con-
tains 200,000 syphilitics, and it has been estimated that 810 out
of every 1,000 married men there either have or have had
gonorrhea. It has spread from them to a majority of their
wives.

Eighty per cent of the cases of infant ophthalmia, the world
over, come from this source. It kills the same percentage of
the women who die from diseases of the reproductive organs.
The Vice Commission of Portland, Ore., reported last year that
more than a fifth of all disease, of every nature, in the city was
venereal. Dr. Prince A. Morrow estimated, some years ago,
that in the whole United States 450,000 young men every year
become sufferers from one or the other form of it.*

The last report of one of the large insane asylumsf of the
country shows that about one fourth of the patients had, at
some time and in some way, been infected with syphilis. In
many of these cases it was ascertained that the taint had been
hereditary.

The lesson taught by evolution and biology of the depend-
ence of every human being, for what we term his constitution,
on his ancestry, has brought a new and heavy responsibility
on all teachers of morals; and of these the clergy are the most
important. They must fight the battles of future generations
in dealing with the men and women to whom they preach, and
over whom they are in a certain position of authority.

Robert Louis Stevenson said, in his epigrammatic way, that
this is an age when genealogy has taken a new lease of life.
We study it, not to trace out ancestral glories of circumstance,
but for secrets of destiny. " The very plot of our life's story
unfolds itself on a scale of centuries, and the biography of the
man is only an episode in the epic of the family."

The Royal Commission on Divorce and Matrimonial Causes,
in their report to the British Parliament, made last year, recom-
mends that a marriage be declared an absolute nullity, if either
party was, at its date, without the knowledge of the other,
suffering from venereal disease in a communicable form.

Ought a Christian minister, with all these facts staring him
in the face, to celebrate a marriage, at least between those who

* Barnesby, Medical Chaos and Crime, 353.
t The Connecticut Hospital for the Insane.

1913.] THE CHURCH AND MARRIAGE. 93

are strangers to him, without first advising some form of in-
quiry as to the physical condition of the man as regards these
particular disorders?

A few of the states now require by law that sworn or official
certificates as to this matter shall be filed in a public office, be-
fore a marriage license can issue. In the others no public safe-
guard exists, and it seems to me that our ministers might well,
disagreeable as it is, follow the spirit which has dictated such
legislation, and, at least, advise the parents or friends of the
woman to assure themselves that she is not about to jeopardize
the health, not only of herself, but of the children whom she
may bear.

A prominent minister of the Dutch Reformed Church, in
New York, has for some time made it his rule, and his church
warmly support him in it, to require certificates of health from
a physician as to both parties, before performing a marriage.
The dean of the Protestant Episcopal cathedral in Chicago has
established the same custom there. All the Protestant clergy-
men in L}Tm, Mass., agreed last spring, to make it their rule
of practice.

The way to this course of action has been smoothed, in recent
years, by the discovery of the cause of each of the venereal
diseases and of a remedy for the worst of them which, though
only after a long period of time, is reasonably sure to work a
perfect cure. The inquiry proposed, therefore, while perhaps
deferring a marriage for three years, would not necessarily pre-
vent its ultimate celebration.

During the last few years, also, a simple test of the presence
of syphilis has been discovered — the Wassermann complement-
fixation test — which is said to fail very rarely, if ever, to dis-
close its presence.

The minister can hardly himself institute or direct an inquiry.
He can, however, decline to perform the marriage ceremony
unless he personally knows the parties well, or is satisfied that
the woman or her friends have made a proper investigation.
Certainly he should never perform it for those whom he knows
to be unfit to enter into the new relation.

4, From this point of view, new support is furnished to the
rule of the ancient church that public notice of every intended
marriage should be given long enough beforehand to allow

94 THE CHURCH AND MARRIAGE. [1913.

opportunity for those who know of reasons why it should not
take place to make fchem known. From the thirteenth cen-
tury, the publication of banns in the parish church was a regu-
lar and indispensable part of the canonical procedure. The re-
quirement was not dropped in England until its fulfillment be-
came impracticable from the growth of cities. One or two
hundred sets of banns, a century ago, would sometimes be read
of a Sunday morning in a London church. No such condition
of things can exist, at least for Protestant churches, in a country
where a parish is not another name for describing all who inhabit
it.

Cromwell's Marriage Act of 1653 allowed the publication
to be made either in the church or in the nearest marketplace.

The Church of England still maintains the older practice,
though by act of Parliament the parties proposing marriage
may announce their intention, at their option, in a written
declaration, filed, posted, and recorded in the office of the
" superintendent registrar." In either case three weeks must
intervene between the public notification and the marriage.
The civil declaration is to contain a statement that no lawful
impediment to the marriage exists.*

While several of the American colonies and states formerly
provided for the publication of banns in church, and this was
the general rule wherever the leading churches were Congre-
gational, for half a century or more such statutory requirements
have been gradually dropped. The reasons for maintaining
it, in some shape, which satisfied the early church, and appealed
to our fathers, seem to me still to exist. Would it not be a wise
measure for the churches of our faith to re-adopt the former
plan, so far as to advise their ministers to celebrate no marriage
unless, say, three weeks' public notice had been given of the
intention of the parties to enter into the marriage contract,
either in church or to the proper civil officer?

The American statutes now generally allow a marriage to
follow immediately upon the issue of the license, and the license
to issue immediately after the application for it has been filed.
There may sometimes be reasons for such hasty action. The
statute, which can make no nice distinctions, may therefore
be right in permitting it. But the church seems to me to have

* Howard on Matrimonial Institutions, I, 360, 425, 470.

1913.] THE CHURCH AND MARRIAGE. 95

a duty of its owii. If its ministers are called on to perform
the ceremony, they can well require a delay that gives time for
objections to be stated and impediments disclosed.

5. It does not seem to me the duty of the churches, as such,
or of their members, as such, to urge upon legislatures the im-
provement of our marriage laws. The efforts of the church
for the betterment of society arc to be accomplished through
its influence in the formation and reformation of individual
character. It has often been wrong in trying to extend, in this
direction or in that, the domain of statute law. In one genera-
tion it has not infrequently thus built up what in the next
generation it has striven to pull do■^^^l.

I think a church organization should seldom, if ever, address
itself to advocating or opposing any particular scheme of legis-
lation. Its purposes run deeper. Its office is to make good
men, rather than good laws.

I have been glad to mark the course in this country of the
Roman Catholic Church in this respect. It contents itself
mainly with looking after the individual, and there in laying
down rules for its own members, as to matters of religion;
not in trying to get them to work for rules to govern the con-
duct of others. Professor Kerby, of the Catholic University
of America, put this point very clearly, not long ago, in describ-
ing the social work, if I may call it such, of the Church of Rome
in the United States. He observed that it was directed more
towards effects than toward causes; toward personal action
on the individual, rather than on social forces; always with
the hope that if her organic teaching be but accepted, the benefi-
cent results would include all that may be looked for from
law or government.*

This seems to me sound doctrine for every church and in
every field.

It will be enough if our ministers, when called onto perform the
marriage ceremony, see that the laws, as they stand, are fully
obeyed, and their own action such as can bring no scandal on
the Congregational church.

Goethe, in Wilhelm Meister, speaks of the absence of any
binding tie between Christ and the general world-spirit of his
age. He brought into the world (though the world received it

* Annala of the Am. Academy ofJPol. and Soc. Science, XXX, 47.

96 THE CHURCH AND MARRIAGE. [1913.

not) what is the spirit of our age, — the spirit of a democracy
which, in the words of a thoughtful historical scholar,* looks
out on life from the viewpoint of " a burning consciousness of
personality, bound up with the sense of wide and universal
relations."

We know, as our forefathers did not, how far the conse-
quences of marriage run. We, more than they ever could, see,
therefore, how vital to the race it is that those whom the church
joins with the state in making capable of celebrating marriage
should do their utmost, always and in everything, to keep it
pure at the source.

* Stewart Means, Harvard Theological Review, VI, 328.

1913.] REPORT OF THE AMERICAN BOARD. 97

REPORT OF THE AMERICAN BOARD OF COM-
MISSIONERS FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS TO THE
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CONGREGATIONAL
CHURCHES. 1913.

The three years between the meetings of the National
Council at Boston and Kansas City in a number of respects
have been the greatest triennium in the history of the American
Board. Since these years are also the first three years of our
new century, there is abundant ground for gratitude over this
fact.

In the matter of the Board's income, a comparison between
the triennium just closed and the one preceding is highly en-
couraging. Each of the years following the celebration of the
Board's centenary at Boston has seen our receipts pass the
one million dollar mark, the total for the three years giving
us the impressive figure of $3,109,498.57, as compared with
$2,668,187.71 for the three preceding years. As between the
two periods there has, therefore, been a gain of $441,310.86,
an average gain per year of $147,103.62.

Analyzing our income as to the different sources, we find
that the gain has been fairly well distributed, as the following
table will show:

Gain and Loss in Receipts for the Triennium.

From churches and individuals Gain $98,664.76

From Sunday-schools and Y. P. S. C. E „ 8,906.27

From matured conditional gifts ,, 6,756.39

From permanent funds and miscellaneous ,, 103,325.45

For special objects ,, 151,267.36

From Woman's Boards „ 110,645.63

From legacies Loss 38,255.00

The Board closed its books for 1911 and 1912 with a slight
surplus. The record for 1913 shows a deficit of $11,233.89.
As the last year is more conspicuously in our minds, it is inter-
esting to record the receipts in detail :

98 REPORT OF THE AMERICAN BOARD. [l913.

Receipts for 1912-1913.

From churches $271,164.31

From individuals 67,928.65

From Sunday-schools and Y. P. S. C. E 16,001.98

From Twentieth Century Fund and legacies 163,441.01

From matured conditional gifts 36,708.44

Income from general permanent fund 22,201.16

From Woman's Boards 294,694.40

For special objects 112,520.85

Income from sundry funds and miscellaneous 64,277.96

Total $1,048,938.76

The period just closed has also seen a notable building up
of our permanent funds. The endowment fund for higher
educational work instituted in our centennial year has re-
ceived $1,000,000, the greatest gift from a living donor in the
history of the Board. This fund now stands at $1,122,048.
The aim of the Board is to secure in all not less than $2,000,000
for the proper endowment of our colleges and seminaries. The
Conditional Gift Fund has been built up from $776,576.07 to
$898,707.57. This fund is giving great satisfaction to the
donors and is rapidly gaining in popularity. One feature which
appeals strongly to donors is that no charge is made for ad-
ministration, every dollar of a conditional gift going full sized
to the foreign field upon the death of the donor. Our treas-
urer's reports for the years 1911-1913 offer interesting reading to
all who follow closely the financiering of the Board. In these
reports full details will be found of income and expenditure
and as to the various funds entrusted to the Board. These
reports also contain an itemized statement of the Board's
investments.

Appointment of Missionaries.

The last triennium has also been more satisfactory than
any other in our recent history in the matter of sending out
new workers. During the three years 124 missionaries have
received life appointment, and 47 have been sent out for a term
of years. The years 1911 and 1912 were unusually fruitful
in this respect. The last year has seen quite a falling off in the
supply of workers. The Board's force of missionaries now
numbers 611, to which number should be added 96 term-service

1913.] REPORT OF THE AMERICAN BOARD. 99

workers and others assisting the missionaries but not under
appointment. The scarcity of suitablj^ qualified candidates
for missionary service constitutes almost as serious a problem
for the Board as the lack of money. In nearly all of our fields
we are working under extraordinarily favorable conditions.
Rapid progress could be made if the Board were able to send
out the requisite force of workers. In some ways our need of
men creates a greater emergency than our need of money, since
it would be far easier to obtain the requisite means should we
be able to say to the churches, " Here are young men and young
women, well qualified by personality and education for mis-
sionary work, ready to go into the foreign field, but they are
held back for lack of money." A surplus of candidates would
be the best possible incentive for increased giving. The seri-
ousness of the situation is indicated by the fact that during the
past year only twenty-one newly appointed missionaries have
been available for the filling of ninety-four positions. If we
add the great need of workers on the part of our Woman's
Boards, the situation becomes even more serious. Several of
our missions, notable Japan, South China, Marathi, Eastern
Turkey, Western Turkey, South Africa, and Mexico, are
seriously crippled, their force having been depleted by death
and by resignation at the very time when the work is growing
by leaps and by bounds. The serious falling off in candidates
during the past year emphasizes the fact that the Board needs
missionaries in every field and practically in every department
of its work.

Changes in the New York Office.

In the fall of 1912 an important change was made in the
scope and control of our District Office in New York City,
whereby the work was placed in charge of Rev. Edward Lincoln
Smith, D.D., who was also elected a Corresponding Secretary
of the Board. The reasons for this step are worthy of special
attention. New York is not only the commercial metropolis,
but is coming to be regarded also as the religious center of the
country. The great religious movements of our times are
more and more being directed from that city, where so many of
our leading denominations have their central offices, and where
business men from all over the country frequently congregate.

100 REPORT OF THE AMERICAN BOARD. [l913.

This is particularly true of interdenominational movements, and
still more so of the foreign missionary propaganda in which
interdominationalism has become so prominent a factor.
In New York are the offices of six interdenominational societies
through which the American Board cooperates with the other
religious bodies. It is also a significant fact that the largest
recent gifts to the Board, notably those to our Higher Educa-
tional Endowment Fund, have come from New York con-
stituents. The increasing accumulation of wealth in the
metropolis offers a great opportunity and at the same time
places a special responsibility upon the Board.

Such conditions as these led the Prudential Committee to
consider locating at New York one of the executive officers of the
Board, who can represent us in many of the interdenominational
conferences and who can give special attention to the financial
opportunities in that field, while taking over the existing agen-
cies of the Middle District. In order that the new lines of work
may be effective, it seemed desirable that our New York rep-
resentative should be a Corresponding Secretary of the Board,
a member of its executive staff, able to attend meetings of the
Prudential Committee, and so fully to understand the problems
and methods of administration. By such an arrangement the
New York secretary would also bring to the Board's administra-
tion the benefit of his special experience gained in the metropo-
lis, and thus broaden the scope of all our plans in the Home
Department.

The office has been conducted now for one year under the
new arrangement and has proved highly satisfactory, one in-
dication of the success of the plan being the material increase
in donations from our Middle District.

Possible Changes in the Constitution of the Board.

At a meeting of the Board in Portland, Me., in 1912, the
Prudential Committee presented the following statement of
their attitude toward proposed changes in the Constitution
of the Board:

" Your committee is not unmindful of the various pro-
posals being made looking to changes in the structure of the
Board. While this is a matter of such vital importance that
the Board will probably wish to debate the subject on its own

1913.] REPORT OF THE AMERICAN BOARD. 101

account at some appropriate time, it may help to clear the air
if we describe here certain changes which have already been
brought about.

" The American Board was the child of the Congregational
churches of Massachusetts as represented by their General
Association. It received its organization from this body in
1810 as a Board of Commissioners appointed for life and self-
perpetuating. As such, two years later, it received a charter
from the General Court of Massachusetts. This plan of con-
trol was chosen as the one most likely to prove efficient and as
best meeting the situation created by churches of various de-
nominations desiring to use the Board as their agent in the
carrpng on of foreign missionary work. The polities of the
three supporting denominations were so diverse that a self-
perpetuating organization seemed the best way in which to
combine for a mutual end. The record of the Board in all its
earlier history would seem to confirm the wisdom of the
founders.

" When, however, the other denominations, first the Presby-
terians and then the Reformed Church, withdrew and or-
ganized their owm boards, the original organization became in
the main a Congregational institution. In the meantime, the
churches of this faith and order had developed a nation-wide
denominational consciousness and a system of cooperation far
beyond what existed in 1810. It seemed appropriate, there-
fore, for the Board to institute certain changes in its structure
which would bring it more nearly in accord with existing Con-
gregational usage and make it more directly representative of
the churches.

" At the meeting of the Board held at Worcester in 1893,
upon the presentation of resolutions drawn up by a committee
of which Rev. A. H. Quint, D.D., was chairman, the member-
ship of the Board was increased to 350, and state, territorial,
or independent organizations of CongTegational churches were
invited to make nominations sufficient to fill three fourths of
such vacancies as existed or should occur.

" More radical changes were made at the meeting in
Grinnell in 1904. After careful study on the part of a repre-
sentative commission appointed the year before, of which
Pres. Frank K. Sanders was chairman, the Board adopted

102 REPORT OF THE AMERICAN BOARD. [l913.

the system which now prevails, by which election is for five
years instead of for life, allowing each local association of
churches to have one corporate member and the state con-
ferences to be represented in proportion to their enrollment of
chm-ch members. The Board was also allowed 150 members
at large. Under this arrangement, the limit of membership
was increased from 350 to about 500. The charter of the
Board made it illegal to relegate to ecclesiastical organizations
the actual election of its members. These bodies were accord-
ingly asked to make nominations to the Board, the Board
on its part binding itself to receive such nominations and to
act favorably upon them so far as they conformed to the by-
laws governing the matter. In this way, without changing
the charter, the churches were given control. This plan is
now working smoothly, and, so far as efficiency of administration
and the carrying out of the great purposees of the Board are
concerned, is giving good satisfaction.

" What we desire to bring out in this recital is that in the
past the Board has not hesitated to effect such changes in its
method of electing members as the churches have desired.
In these steps looking to making the Board more representa-
tive of its constituency, the Board has acted on -its own initia-
tive, not waiting for suggestions from the churches.

" At the meeting of the National Council held in Boston
in 1910, proposals were made for aligning all the Congregational
missionary societies with the Council as the single administra-
tive body for the denomination in its national functions, and
a commission of nineteen men was appointed to consider this,
along with other matters, and to present a plan for adoption
at the next Council. The publishing of their proposals in
advance of the meeting has given rise to sundry counter propo-
sitions, these varying somewhat in their proposals for the
American Board.

" Your committee rejoices in this attention which is being
given to the administration of our denominational missionary
work, feeling that the more the churches can concern them-
selves in what all must regard as their leading interest, the
better will they be able to perform their part in establishing
Christ's kingdom in the earth. As in the past, the Board on
its own account has from time to time sought to bring itself

1913.] REPORT OF THE AMERICAN BOARD. 103

into closer relations to the churches, so now that the matter
has, in a measure, been taken out of our hands and throwai into
the arena of general denominational debate, the members of
the Prudential Committee and the officers of the Board, speak-
ing for themselves, stand ready to favor such further changes
as the churches may desire, in so far as these changes are found
to be legal and practicable. We trust this attitude may meet
with the approval of the Board."

The above statement from the committee was adopted by
the Board.

The Foreign Situation.

Since the National Council last met, the Board has found
itself working under five new national flags, namely, the new
flag of the Republic of Portugal, the new flag of the Republic
of China, the old flag of Albania, now revived as a result of the
Balkan war, together with the flags of Servia and Greece which
now float over sections of our Macedonian field, formerly
under the Turkish sway. The sig*nificance of these political
events as affecting missionary work is apparent to all. In
China particularly the new political ideals and institutions and
the widespread intellectual ferment accompanying the change
in govermnent have brought to our missionaries an unparalleled
opportunity. Underlying all of these economic, educational,
and political changes is a prevailing religious unrest. That
the non-Christian religions in the Chinese empire are in a de-
cadent condition, no one can doubt. When we add similar
conditions in Japan, Korea, and India, we have a world situa-
tion which should stir the heart of the church to the very
depths. That Christendom has not responded to the un-
paralleled opportunity in non-Christian lands is almost as
amazing as that these stupendous events should have occurred.
The two great outstanding facts in the foreign missionary situa-
tion to-day are the new era abroad, and the failure of the church
at home to properly respond. We rejoice that one great de-
nomination has been led to see its day and opportunity and, by
raising a special fund of S300,000 and by putting one hundred
new missionaries into China alone, has been able to enter upon
an advance movement of impressive proportions. This is true
Christian strategy and enterprise. Would that a like spirit
might prevail among all our denominations.

104 report of the american board. [l913.

Events in the Foreign Field.

Considering each country in more detail, we would place
before the Council the following events as indicating the local
situation or as marking the progress of our work :

Africa. The overthrow of the monarchy in Portugal led
to a closer and more friendly relation between our mission-
aries in West Central Africa and the Portuguese officials. The
officials sent out under the republican regime have shown a
friendly spirit toward our work, but have created a good deal
of a problem by their insistence on the use of the Portuguese
language in our schools. The Board is endeavoring to meet
this requirement by having our missionaries study Portuguese
at Lisbon and by sending out native Portuguese as language
teachers. The visit of the deputation, consisting of Secretary
Patton and Rev. F. B. Bridgman, of South Africa, to this field
in 1911, led to a thorough inquiry into the status and methods
of the work. Following the recommendations of the deputa-
tion, notable changes were introduced, especially in the edu-
cational system of the mission. The outstanding event here
is the establishment at Ndondi of a new station which is to
contain our Central Training Institute for teachers and preach-
ers. The Canadian Congregational Board generously agrees
to finance the new station, in addition to continuing their
splendid work at Chisamba.

In Natal our relations with the British Colonial Govern-
ment have become cordial and intimate, as is evidenced by
the increasing government grants for our primary school work
and for our industrial operations. All the Zulu churches are
now self-supporting, and nearly all our schools are being carried
on by the government, under the supervision of the mission.
In connection with the seventy-fifth anniversary of this mission,
held in 1911, the fact was brought out that about one fourth of
the Zulu race has been Christianized. The work in the Rhodes-
ian Branch has gained headway, and now that Beira, on the
coast, is to be reopened with an ordained missionary and a
medical missionary in charge, there is every prospect that this
field will see a rapid development.

Turkey. The disturbed conditions in the Turkish em-
pire, especially during the past year, have not interfered as

1913.] REPORT OF THE AMERICAN BOARD. 105

seriously with the Board's work as might be expected. For the
most part our schools, colleges, hospitals, and churches have
been going on with continued success. In the Balkan Peninsula
naturally there has been a cessation of much of the work.
Missionaries, however, have seized the opportunity to minister
to the soldiers and to the stricken populace through relief
measures, often in collaboration with the Red Cross. Through-
out Turkey it is evident that our work increasingly is to be for
the Moslem population, from whom we have been shut out
these many years so far as direct approach is concerned. The
Turks are beginning seriously to question the value o' their
own religion. Particularly in our Central Turkey Mission do
our missionaries and native pastors find a great opportunity
for reaching their Moslem neighbors. Our Armenian Chris-
tians, forgetting and forgivmg their past grievances, are de-
voting themselves to Moslem work with superb zeal.

China. We are glad to report that the revolution which
led to the driving out of the Manchu rulers brought very
little interruption to our work. The same may be said of the
uprising or rebeUion of 1913. Everywhere our schools are
being thronged with new pupils, and on every hand the mis-
sionaries find the masses eager for the Good News. The op-
portunity in this country is unparalleled. Not only is it the
greatest opportunity which the church has ever seen, but it is
the greatest which the church ever can see. There is imperative
call for highly qualified recruits and for an increase in funds.

Japan. The Japan Mission has lost seriously through
the death of veteran missionaries, notablj^ Dr. John H. De
Forest and Dr. J. K. Greene. The death of the latter, who
was the founder of the mission, calls attention to the marvelous
rehgious transformations which this country has undergone.
When Dr. Greene went out to Japan in 1868, Christianity was
prohibited and converts were thrown into prison. It is
estimated now that there are not less than one million Chris-
tians in the empire, many of them being in the higher walks of
life. The fact that the government in 1912 invited Christians
into consultation with representatives of other religions over
the moral welfare of the empire emphasized as nothing else
could have done the large place which Christianity has won
for itself in this leading nation of the East.

106 REPORT OF THE AMERICAN BOARD. [l913.

An exceedingly interesting evidence of the virility of our
Kumi-ai (Congregational) churches in Japan, now the largest
Christian body in the empire, is found in the fact that on their
own initiative they have organized thirty-five churches in
Korea.

India. Our Marathi Mission in Western India will be-
gin its centenary celebrations in the city of Bombay a few
days after the Board adjourns at Kansas City. The Board has
sent out a strong deputation to represent us on the occasion,
consisting of Samuel B. Capen, LL.D., President of the Board;
Rev. W, E. Strong, D.D., Editorial Secretary; Rev. George A.
Hall, member of the Prudential Committee. These members
of the Board, together with friends accompanying them, will
convey the greetings of the Congregationalists of America to
the Christians in our oldest mission. " What hath God
wrought! " The wonderful success of our work in this most
difficult mission field of India should bring courage and valor
to all of us here at home. The centenary celebrations include
great meetings in the city of Bombay and also in Ahmednagar.
The mission inaugurates its new century by opening a new
station at Barsi, this being made possible by the generous
gift of a Massachusetts friend.

In South India the movement toward Christianity a^jiong
the villages grows in proportions. This is one of the most
promising fields of the Board. A large fruitage of conversions
may be expected in coming years. Our college at Madura
has received the recognition of government as an institution
of the first class.

Ceylon. The educational work is the leading feature of
our mission in Northern Ceylon. Although this is one of the
smaller missons of the Board, it is an impressive fact that some
twelve thousand children are enrolled in the schools, the funds
being provided largely by the British government. The great
problem now is to meet the entirely appropriate demands of
the government for better teachers and better equipment.

Mexico. While the work in Mexico has been held back
at several points on account of the disturbed political condi-
tions, we are glad to report that at Chihuahua and Guadalajara,
especially the latter place, the missionaries have been able to
hold on and to make their work unusually effective. It did

1913.] REPORT OF THE AMERICAN BOARD. 107

not seem best to the Board to follow the advice of our own
government and to withdraw our workers from this field.
The missionaries themselves strongly protested against with-
drawal, feeling that they were needed among the people as
never before. We are glad to report that no mishaps have
befallen any of our missionaries, nor do we anticipate that any
disturbance is likely to endanger their lives.

Austria. This little mission has continued on its way,
rejoicing in the evident blessing of God. Although our force
of workers is painfully small, we may truthfully say that in no
part of the world are our labors more productive. No strik-
ing outward events call for notice, but the more do we give
thanks for the steady ongoing of a successful work.

Spain. The Woman's Board school has been moved
from Madrid to Barcelona, it being thought wise to separate
the preparatory department from the collegiate institution.
The Barcelona institution is already firmly established and
doing a highly successful work. Dr. William H. Gulick, our
veteran missionary in charge of this field, is expecting soon to
retire, but the Board has found in Rev. Wayne H. Bowers one
who gives good promise of succeeding to Dr. Gulick's influence
and effectiveness.

Pacific Islands. The work in Micronesia which has suf-
fered so severely as a result of governmental changes is now
settling dowm upon a firm basis. We have been able to
send out two new missionary families, Rev. and Mrs. Charles
H. Maas having gone to the Marshall group, and Rev. and
Mrs. Frank J. Woodward to the Gilbert group. Our Rev.
Philip Delaporte of Nauru has been the center of a wonderful
religious movement, as has also Rev. Irving M. Channon of
Ocean Island. The German government is now making an
annual appropriation toward the salaries of Mr. Maas and Mr.
Delaporte.

In the Philippines the work in the southern part of Min-
danao at Davao has continued successfully under Rev. Robert
F. Black and Dr. Charles T. Sibley. The Board has decided
to open a new station on the north coast of Mindanao, and
Rev. and Mrs. Frank C. Laubach will soon be on their way to
the new post. It is hoped to place another missionary family
at their side.

108 report of the american board, [l913.

Statistics.

In conclusion we give the statistics of our work as com-
piled by the Foreign Department from the returns of the
missions for 1913.

General Summary, 1911-1912.

Missions.

Number of missions 20

Number of stations 113

Number of outstations 1,434

Places for stated preaching 1,907

Laborers Employed.

Number of ordained missionaries (7 being physicians) 167

Number of male physicians not ordained (besides 13 women) . . 27

Number of other male missionaries not ordained 20

Number of women (13 of them physicians) (wives, 191; unmar-
ried, 206) 397

Whole number of laborers sent from this country 611

Number of native pastors 312

Number of native preachers and catechists 565

Number of native school-teachers 2,722

Bible-women 414

Number of other native laborers 974

Total of native laborers 4,993

Total of American and native laborers 5,604

The Churches.

Number of churches 629

Number of church members 83,152

Added during the year 3,625

Whole number from the first, as nearly as can be learned 224,582

Number in Sunday-schools 74,100

Educational Department.

Number of theological seminaries and training classes 14

Students for the ministry 231

Students in collegiate training 3,923

Boarding and high schools 127

Number of pupils in these schools 10,901

Number of common schools 1,341

Number of pupils in common schools 61,353

Whole number under instruction 78,651

Native contributions, so far as reported $306,896

Respectfully submitted,

Cornelius H. Patton, Home Secretary.

1913.1 REPORT OF CHURCH BUILDING SOCIETY. 109

TRIENNIAL REPORT OF THE CONGREGATIONAL
CHURCH BUILDING SOCIETY.

Presented by Secretary Charles H. Richards.

Once more, for the sixth consecutive time, we are glad to
report that the trieimium just closed has been the best in the
history of the Society. There has been an increase, both in
receipts and in work, over the previous triennium, which up to
that time was the banner period.

Since the last meeting of the National Council we have, as
usual, helped to build two churches each week, and one parson-
age every twelve days, except for a month's vacation each
summer. We have paid last bills on nearly four hundred
buildings for church use, of which three hundred were new
houses of worship and ninety-three were parsonages. We
should have done more had the churches been able to call
promptly for the grants and loans voted to them, for during
this period there were voted two hundred and ninety-three
grants, one hundred and seventy-eight church loans, and one
hundred and seventeen parsonage loans.

There has been a gratifying increase in our receipts for the
triennium to the close of our fiscal year, the amount received
since the last National Council being $840,668. This is a
gain over the previous triennium of $13,336.

Our Church Loan Fund has been increased during this period
by $122,283 because of the receipt of legacies amounting to
$84,273, wdth an additional special gift of $3,738, and annuity
gifts amomiting to $34,271. We have also received for the
Parsonage Loan Fund $17,835 in donations made specifically
for that object.

The amount received from churches and their affiliated
societies for grants to needy churches is slowly growing under
the stimulus of the " Apportionment Plan," but it falls pitifully
short of the need. Last year these gifts amounted to $88,241,
a little more than one half of the apportionment. We needed

no REPORT OF CHURCH BUILDING SOCIETY. [1913.

$81,759 more to make up the $170,000 which in the judgment
of the Apportionment Commission is imperatively required
if we are to meet fully the necessities of the struggling churches.
How much we need this additional amount may be seen from
the fact that we were compelled to carry over from 1912 to
1913 one hundred and ninety-three applications for grants,
church loans, and parsonage loans, asking for $260,925 because
of insufficient funds. This will continue to be the " thorn in
the flesh " in our fellowship until the contributing churches
send us the full amount of the apportionment.

The Sixtieth Year.

We are glad to report that the sixtieth year of the Society,
just closed, surpassed all its predecessors. For the first time in
our history the receipts passed the $300,000 mark, bringing into
our treasury a total of $304,805. If there had been included
the " specials," or money given directly to the churches by
Congregational friends and protected to the. denomination
by our mortgages, the receipts for church building would have
amounted to $331,621. But we now list these in a class by
themselves.

We also helped to complete nine more churches and eleven
more parsonages than in the previous year, paying last bills on
one hundred and forty-eight buildings to meet the need of the
churches for suitable equipment.

The Sixth Decade.

The sixth decade of this Society has surpassed all its prede-
cessors not only in receipts but in the aid given for church
and parsonage building. At the last annual meeting of the
Society, a review of the sixty years of our work was presented
which strikingly illustrates its growth. It is appropriate that
a statement of the facts should also find a place in this triennial
report. The receipts from all sources in the ten years ending
with 1912 exceed those of the previous decade (although the
large Stickney legacy came to the Society in that period) by
$659,672. They exceed the total amount gathered in the first
four decades combined, including the Albany and Forefathers'
funds, by more than $300,000. We have thus been enabled.

1913.] REPORT OF CHURCH BUILDING SOCIETY. Ill

during the ten years just closed, to help build 1,365 churches
and parsonages, of which 992 have been houses of worship.

It is interesting to note the steady growth of this work. The
gathering of the " Albany Fund " preceded the organization
of this Society. The raising of the " Forefathers' Fund "
was the immediate result of the Boston Council in 1865. Both
of these funds were disbursed through this young society, then
called the " American Congregational Union," but they were
aside from its ordinary work and have been considered by them-
selves, though they are included in our grand total. Together
they amounted to a little more than $74,000. Leaving them
out of the account for the present, we find the record of the six
decades of our history to be as follows :

Receipts.

1st decade $60,564.87

2d „ 492,193.71

3d „ 477,192.11

4th „ 1,274,554.86

5th „ -. ,. 2,019,055.49

6th „ 2,678,727.95

The total amount for the sixty years is more than seven
million dollars.

It will be observed that the beginnings were very small and
feeble. The third year of the society's life the contributions
to its work were only $560. The next year, less than three
score churches gave anything to this cause. The society was
four years old before it got funds enough to make the first
grant from its own treasury. Then in 1857 it gave $500, in
addition to $300 from the " Albany Fund," to pay last bills on
the little brick house of worship in Omaha which Reuben Gay-
lord had led his people to erect on the western bank of the Mis-
souri River. That hamlet has grown to be a city of more than
125,000 people to-day; and that little meeting-house has
expanded into a fine modem plant which with its lot is valued at
$100,000. It is an interesting fact, also, that the little strug-
gling church thus aided has sent back to our treasury more than
$3,500, or more than four times as much as it received, and it
has been the mother church of a great sisterhood of more than
two hundred churches in that great state of Nebraska.

112 REPORT OF CHURCH BUILDING SOCIETY. [1913.

From that time the resources and the work gradually in-
creased. For twenty-five years the income averaged less than
$50,000 a year. But in 1882, when Dr. L. H. Cobb became
secretary, it suddenly leaped up to $100,000, and never again
fell below that mark. Since 1899 the annual receipts have
never fallen below $200,000; in only three years out of the last
twelve have they fallen below $250,000; and in the year just
closed we have gone beyond the $300,000 mark.

The causes of this steady growth have been many. The
constant push of population into new sections of the country;
the springing up of villages and the tremendous growth of
cities; the organization of about one hundred and fifty new
Congregational churches each year, creating an increasing
demand for church building aid; the growing prosperity and
generosity of the people; the larger sense of fellowship and
responsibility in our denomination; the clearer perception of the
vital necessity of our work in promoting the kingdom of God;
the " Apportionment Plan," — all these, and other causes, have
contributed to the steady development of the work of this
society, and at the close of this sixth decade of its life it is fitting
that we should gratefully take note of the advance.

The Breadth of Our Work.

During the triennium now reported the aid of the society
has been given to churches in every part of our country. We
have during these three years assisted 31 churches in New
England, putting into them $23,961 in grants and loans for
houses of worship and $6,800 in parsonage loans, making a
total of $30,761.

In the Middle Atlantic States (New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Maryland, and District of Columbia) we have
paid last bills for 27 churches, sending to them $108,335 in
grants and loans for houses of worship and $4,250 in parsonage
loans, a total of $112,585.

In the South we have given the helping hand to 27 churches,
sending to them $39,892 in grants and loans for houses of
worship and $4,250 in parsonage loans, a total of $44,142.

In the Interior District we have come to the relief of 205
churches, sending to them $220,195 in grants and loans for

1913.] REPORT OF CHURCH BUILDING SOCIETY. 113

houses of worship and $32,330 in parsonage loans, a total of
S252,525.

In the Pacific District we have assisted 109 churches, sending
to them $164,100 in grants and loans for houses of worship,
and $12,875 in parsonage loans, a total of $177,035.

In Porto Rico we have added to the aid previously given by
helping to complete a chapel at Luquillo for the work under the
care of the American Missionary Association at that point.
We have also built a comfortable parsonage beside our church
at Fajardo, and are about doing the same at Hmnacao. We
have sent $6,100 to the interesting fields on that island.

We have just appropriated $5,000 in grant and loan to
Wailuku, Hawaii, this fall.

We have not been unmindful of the fact that ours is a poly-
glot country, and that if we are to deal efficiently with the
problems of our American life, we must show a generous fellow-
ship toward those who come to us from other lands and who
worship in other tongues. We have paid, within the last three
years, $45,156 to 36 churches speaking various languages,
including German, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Armenian,
Italian, Welsh, Indian, and Mexican. As the gospel is now
preached in twenty different languages in our Congregational
churches in this country, we are likely to add to this list con-
siderably in the immediate future.

In addition to the payments made to these churches, we are
holding appropriations voted by our Board to more than one
hundred and fifty churches until they shall be able to finish
their work and send us the necessary papers. The amount thus
awaiting their call is nearly $178,000. The final steps in the
completion of its task cannot always be taken by a church as
promptly as it desires, but the money appropriated by our
Board to pay last bills is immediately available as soon as voted,
and only awaits the action of the church in doing its part of the
work.

Abandoned Churches.

Appropriations are made only after very careful investiga-
tion and on the recommendation of the wisest advisers in the
states whose counsel we can secure. Yet it occasionally happens
that the early promise of a church fails of fulfillment. The

114 REPORT OF CHURCH BUILDING SOCIETY. [1913.

fading out of a town, the migration of members, the diversion of
business by new railroad lines, the changed conditions of a
community may rob a church of all chance of growth and eventu-
ally cause its death. The failures are but a small minority
compared with the successes. Even the churches that have
dwindled and perished have for the most part done a valuable
and important work during the years before they declined.
They rendered useful service, and were well worth the strength
and money spent upon them. We may lament the disappear-
ance of churches which for a time were splendidly effective
factors in the moral and spiritual life of their communities,
but we should not fail to keep in mind the noble service they
rendered while their strength lasted.

It is a part of the work of this Society to try to save to the
denomination the property which such a dying church has been
forced to give up. Where such a church was formerly aided
by this society we undertake to recover from the proceeds of
sale of the property the Congregational money which went into
it, and use it in building a church elsewhere. If our denomina-
tion is to keep pace with sister denominations in advancement,
all the proceeds from the sale of such abandoned churches should
be sacredty conserved for church building elsewhere. It should
not be diverted to any other use, however good. We have not
been able to recover from such churches the full amount we put
into them. For example, in one state where we have rendered
large assistance, more than forty churches have died and dis-
appeared from our roll in as many years. We have recovered
as much as possible from the properties, but are about five
thousand dollars short of the amount put in. We have lately
been giving special attention to this matter. During the
triennium just closed we have settled more than seventy-five
of these old accounts, and have recovered nearly $36,000.

Are There Too Many Churches?

Our country has a population of 91,972,267, according to the
recent census, and 221,443 churches, an average of one church
to four hundred and ten persons. It is estimated that the
population has now reached about 97,000,000. Our group of
churches, with others akin to us in polity, represents religious

1913.] REPORT OF CHURCH BUILDING SOCIETY. 115

democracy, believing that freedom in religion is safe, whole-
some, and best adapted to the needs of humanity. This group
of free churches contains about forty per cent of all the
churches, and they average nearly a hundred families to each
church. This surely is not excessive, especially in view of the
steady and amazing increase of the population.

During the last decade 1,392 new Congregational churches
were organized in places where they seemed to be urgently
needed. No one familiar with the rapid development of our
country can doubt the wisdom or necessity of this expansion of
our church life. We ought to have established more rather
than fewer churches.

It is true that in some communities there are more churches
than are needed. In such cases it not infrequently happens
that two or three of these do most of the religious work in the
commmiity, while the rest are small groups of people represent-
ing some peculiar doctrine which they wish to emphasize. No
one can deny them libertj^ to flock by themselves if they prefer.
But it is a pity that those who are in substantial agreement on
the great essentials of religion should not be -willing to work and
worship together, so that we might have one or two strong
churches in place of three or four weak ones. We are doing our
best to secure this desired end. We have comity arrange-
ments in man}^ states with other leading evangelical denomina-
tions in which it is agreed that no one of them will encroach
upon territory occupied by another party to the agreement.
And exchanges are being consummated by which two churches
are merged in one place to belong to one denomination, in
exchange for a like union in another place to belong to the other
denomination.

This Society exercises great care not to enter a field with its
church building aid which is occupied by another evangelical
church, unless it can be clearly shown that our field does not
overlap or encroach upon the field of another church; and we
seek especially to enter fields where there is no other church at
all. There are thousands of such places in our country. The
field investigation of the Home Mission Council recently re-
vealed the fact that in a single western state there were more
than 2,000 communities, large enough to have a post-office,
where there was no religious organization or service of any kind.

116 REPORT OP CHURCH BUILDING SOCIETY. [l913.

The same condition exists to a greater or less degree in other
states. Surely while such a state of affairs continues there is
no reason to fear that we are over-churching our country.
On the contrary, we have need to redouble our efforts in church-
extension if we are to keep this a Christian country.

The Country Church.

The great majority of the people of this land live in the coun-
try. Their homes are on the farms or in the villages. They
constitute the sturdy stock of the nation which gives it stability
and enduring prosperity. We acknowledge our dependence
upon them when we inquire anxiously about the crops ; if they
are abundant, the nation thrives; if they shrivel and fail, the
nation is in distress.

It is a striking fact that the country population increased by
nearly five millions in the last decade. In the last thirty years
they increased by more than fourteen millions. The gain in the
rural districts v/as eleven per cent, while the whole German
empire, cities and all, increased only thirteen per cent during
the same period.

The majority of our churches are country churches. Very
naturally, therefore, the churches which we have aided have
been largely rural churches. Their spires have pointed men
heavenward from villages and small settlements all over our
land. Usually they have not been strong enough to repay a
loan, so that our aid for such churches has commonly been in
grants, for the perpetual use of the churches while they main-
tain their life and work. All the gifts of the churches and their
affiliated societies have gone as grants to such churches in
their struggle to secure the needed house of worship as an ex-
pression of that fellowship which is the glory of our denomina-
tion. During the past three years we have paid out $256,602
in grants, most of them to such churches.

We can hardly overestimate the immense importance of
these rural churches. Not only do they give comfort and
inspiration to their own members, but they keep the moral
standards of their communities up to a high mark, and they
win to the service of the Kingdom multitudes of young Chris-
tians. Many of these go to the cities, and they carry from the

1913.] REPORT OF CHURCH BUILDING SOCIETY. 117

church of their youth the character, the ideals, and the devotion
developed there. They pour tides of spiritual strength into the
city churches. A large proportion of the pastors and officers and
earnest laymen and consecrated women of the city churches
were converted and trained in the country churches. We are
thankful that we have been able to do so much for the country
church, and we hope to do much more.

The City Church.

Thirty years ago more than half our present cities did not
exist. More than thirteen hundred of them have been de-
veloped in that time, quite largely from the development of
rural communities, and the people swarm in them. In 1900
the city population was fourteen and three-quarters millions;
in 1910 it had jumped up to forty-two and a half millions.

In our days, the city church has also a unique importance.
Modern industrial conditions have caused an astonishing in-
crease of urban population, and our cities have grown at an
amazing rate. The last census shows that we have in our
country 600 cities with more than 10,000 inhabitants each.
The rapidity with which we have become so largely an urban
instead of a rural people is noteworthy, and we confront an
entirely new set of perils and problems in city life. The con-
centration of people of many nationalities, of varied beliefs,
habits, and resources, mthin the bounds of a single munici-
pality, brings with it pecuHar dangers both for the individual
and the state. The forces of evil are intensified, and the
excitements and temptations of the city lure multitudes to
ruin. Nowhere is there greater moral and spiritual need than
in our cities. The fate of our nation depends upon our making
them loyal to the great principles and standards of life which
our churches represent.

By means of our Loan Fund, from which loans are constantly
going out to aid churches only to return, to go out again and
again in similar aid, we have been able to do a large work in
church building in cities. Twenty of our great cities now have
city missionary societies to foster the young and struggling
churches within their boundaries. They are doing a splendid
work, not only in helping forward the erection of houses of

118 REPORT OF CHURCH BUILDING SOCIETY. [l913.

worship, but giving assistance in supporting pastors, and in
other ways. The needs so far outrun their resources, however,
that they find it necessary to call upon this society constantly
to cooperate with them. In 1911 these city societies raised
$100,620.98, of which $8,119.88 went toward church property.
During the three years just passed, this society has assisted
31 churches in these same cities by grants and loans amount-
ing to $106,290.

That we are keenly alive to the needs and opportunities of
this city work is seen by what we have done in these grow-
ing centers of population.

We have helped to build in Birmingham, Ala.; Jersey City,
N. J.; Dubuque, la., and San Diego, Cal., two (2) churches in
each city.

In Springfield, Mass.; Springfield, 111.; Worcester, Mass.;
Buffalo, N. Y. ; Ottumwa, la.; Lawrence, Kan.; Leavenworth,
Kan.; Sioux City, la., and Berkeley, Cal.; three (3) churches
each.

In Milwaukee, Wis.; Peoria, 111.; Davenport, la.; Kansas
City, Kan.; Topeka, Kan.; and Pueblo, Colo., four (4) churches
each.

In Oakland, Cal.; Tacoma, Wash.; Wichita, Kan.; and
Cincinnati, Ohio; five (5) churches each.

In Boston, Mass.; Philadelphia, Pa.; Pittsburgh, Pa.;
Washington, D. C; Atlanta, Ga.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; and
Kansas City, Mo. ; six (6) churches each.

In Des Moines, la., seven (7) churches.

In St. Louis, Mo.; Indianapolis, Ind.; and Portland, Ore.;
eight (8) churches each.

In Omaha, Neb., and Lincoln, Neb., nine (9) churches each.

In San Francisco, Cal.; Spokane, Wash.; and Cleveland,
Ohio; ten (10) churches each.

In St. Paul, Minn.; and Seattle, Wash.; twelve (12) churches
each.

In Los Angeles, Cal., fifteen (15) churches.

In Denver, Colo., seventeen (17) churches.

In Minneapolis, Minn., nineteen (19) churches.

In Greater New York, thirty-four (34) churches.

In Chicago, 111., fifty-two (52) churches.

Some of the 600 cities reported in the census of 1910 as having

1913.] REPORT OF CHURCH BUILDING SOCIETY. 119

more than 10,000 inhabitants have no Congregational churches.
In the cities of this grade where the Pilgrim faith and polity
is represented by our churches we have helped 708 of them with
grants, loans, and parsonage loans. We have put into them
$2,261,884, In addition to this, we have protected for the
denomination under our mortgages and agreements $619,276
of Congregational donations given as " specials " to these
churches. This work for city churches would seem to entitle us
to be enrolled as a city missionary society.

A New Kind of Service.

One of the serious obstacles in the way of church prosperity
is debt. This society tries to prevent debt by making one con-
dition of its aid the paying off of all other obligations before
our appropriation is sent. But other needs arise later, and
presently a church finds itself seriously embarrassed by a
crippling burden of debt which greatly interferes with its proper
work. The Year-Book shows that 1,351 of our churches are
carrying a total indebtedness of $3,500,746. We have recently
been attacking this problem in the belief that hardly any greater
service can be rendered to our churches than to assist them in
sweeping away their debts so that they would be free to push
their religious work with all energy. Our Dr. Newell has taken
up this new Idnd of service in the Interior District with great
success, and in the last two years he has helped 83 churches to
get rid of debts amounting to $334,325.

We hope to continue this method of aiding the churches, but,
as there are only fifty-two weeks in the year, and this has to
be undertaken in addition to other arduous work, there is a
natural limit to the speed with which all these burdens can be
removed.

Needs and Prospects.

The appeals for our aid far outrun our resources. We have
at present on our docket fifty requests for grants, fifty-six re-
quests for church loans, and twenty-five requests for parsonage
loans, or a total of one hundred and thirty-one applications,
asking for $263,435. This is twelve times as much as we usuall}^
have for appropriation at any meeting, and the applications

120 REPORT OF CHURCH BUILDING SOCIETY. [1913.

keep coming in a steady stream. We are never in debt, be-
cause we only vote away what the churches and generous-
hearted individuals send us; but the distress in the churches
which have to wait long for our aid because of our too meager
funds is often acute. We absolutely need at once the full
amount of the apportionment from the churches for our grant
fund, and a large increase of both our church loan fund and our
parsonage loan fund, in order to give prompt relief to the
churches.

Will the demand for such aid never cease? Not unless our
nation stops growing, and our denomination stagnates and
shrivels. As our group of churches expands and enlarges, the
steady increase of the work which has characterized our history
will go on. The prospect is for larger demands, and for
larger gifts from churches and from individuals to meet the
growing need.

1913.1 CONGREGATIONAL EDUCATION SOCIETY. 121

CONGREGATIONAL EDUCATION SOCIETY.

The Congregational Education Society, the oldest of our
national home missionary organizations, will celebrate its
one hundredth anniversary in 1916, and a review of its eventful
career will reveal how vital has been its connection with the
development of Congregationalism in our country.

It has steadily aimed at producing the high-grade man and
the high-grade institution.

During the past three years the receipts from churches,
legacies, and other sources show an increase of $62,033 over
the previous three j^ears, v/hile the contributions from churches
alone increased $36,155.

Student Aid.

Six hundred and sixty-six students preparing for the
Christian ministry received aid to the amount of $31,850.

One hundred and eighty-seven of these 666, or 27^ per
cent, were foreigners, representing eleven nationalities, as
follows :

Germans 37

Swedes ,

30

Finna

Norwegians 29

Armenians 17

Slavic 25

Greeks 5

Bulgarians 4

Persian 1

Chinese 1

Japanese 38

Total 187

Four hundred and seventy-nine, or about 71 per cent of the
total, were theological students, and the appropriations to
eight theological seminaries for student aid were approximately
as follows:

122 CONGREGATIONAL EDUCATION SOCIETY. [l913.

Andover, 10 students $500

Yale, 20 students 1,000

Pacific, 28 students 1,400

Hartford, 59 students 2,950

Atlanta, 68 students 3,400

Bangor, 76 students 3,800

Oberlin, 89 students 4,450

Chicago, 149 students 7,400

The reason for the larger appropriations to Chicago and
Oberhn is that they are carrying German, Swedish, Norwegian,
Finnish, and Slavic departments for the men of these nationali-
ties who are fitting themselves for the ministry to their own
people in the Great Northwest.

Academies and Colleges.

Thirteen thousand five hundred and ninety-five dollars
have been given to fourteen academies and five colleges.

In the West as in the East there is a great field of usefulness
for the Christian academy and the Christian college.

High-grade secondary boarding schools have always found
plenty of students, and their chief value consists that they help
to raise the standards of scholarship. They are needed to
complete the connection between primary education and the
college. The gap between the two must be bridged both by
the high schools and the Christian academy. Phillips Academy,
Andover; Phillips, Exeter; Kimball Union Academy, Dummer
Academy, Williston Academy, St. Johnsbury Academy, and
many others have had eventful careers; have attained and are
maintaining high standards of scholarship, thus assisting the
colleges in raising their standards. Their line of graduates
has gone out through all the earth.

New England recognizes i ts debt to its Christian academies
that have sent their roots into the lives of the people.

The West will profit by the same sort of schools, and
especially will it look to them for that body of wise, sober-
minded, far-seeing, religious laity that help to make up the
warp and woof of a democracy.

The Christian college has its own distinctive place whether
in the East or West. Its mission is to lead the students to the
sources of truth; to teach those ideals that make for noble

1913.] CONGREGATIONAL EDUCATION SOCIETY. 123

living ; and to inculcate the tenets of human brotherhood which
is the basis of democracy.

The years of feebleness of these young western colleges
often seem long dra■v^^l out, but it should be remembered that
they reach their maturity sooner than did the colleges of New
England. For many years there was grave doubt whether
Amherst would continue to live; Harvard looked to England
for support for over one hundred years.

Tlirough the generosity and foresight of Mr. James J. Hill,
president of the Northern Pacific Railroad, large gifts of money
are now being made by him to those colleges in the Northwest
that are closely related to a religious denomination. He sees,
what our fathers saw in early days, that a religious college would
best thrive under the nurture and guidance of a religious de-
nomination, and he is demanding such connection as a condition
of receiving his gifts.

Congregational Pastors at State Universities.

Since the last Council the Society has been able to help in the
support of either a pastor or student helper at Iowa State Uni-
versity, Iowa Agricultural College, California State University,
Nebraska State University, Wisconsin State Universit}^ Kansas
State University, Kansas Agricultural College, Illinois State
University, and has offered help to Michigan State University
whenever the pastor shall be elected.

The reports from these workers are most gratifying, show-
ing that a long-felt want has been met. In one university
there are 720 CongTegational students; in another, over 500;
and in another, 540, and so on.

The response of the students to efforts in their behalf is
encouraging. They welcome the sjonpathetic approach and
kindly fellowship of these pastors and helpers. The need of
such work is real and pressing, and there should be a cordial
support of the Society's effort in this new field.

These workers make the local church the center of their
operations, using it for Sunday evening services and for courses
of lectures on the " Life of Christ," " Social Teachings of the
New Testament," " Missions," and other subjects, and as a
social meeting place.

124 CONGEEGATIONAL EDUCATION SOCIETY. [l913.

In one instance the university pastor hunted up and brought
into the local church one hundred young men and women.
Sunday-school classes of students are formed; student mem-
bership in the Christian Endeavor society is largely increased;
students are visited in their rooms for the purpose of bringing
them to a religious decision. Students are also sent out into
smaller towns and villages to conduct religious or social better-
ment conferences.

In short, the Congregational university worker grips the
student life of the university that properly belongs to his care,
making himself the friend adviser, confessor teacher of the
young men at a critical period in their careers.

The Society, therefore, earnestly commends this work to the
support of pastors and churches; the Society should be able to
employ the best equipped clergy for these pastorates and with
salaries fully commensurate with their abilities and the im
portance of the work.

Western Field Secretary.

Rev. Theodore Clifton, D.D., on account of ill-health, felt
obliged to resign his position as Western Field Secretary after
fifteen years of service. Dr. Clifton was the sole representative
of the Society between Chicago and the Pacific Coast, and his
labors extended over a vast field. He rendered most efficient
aid to institutions in financial stress, and by public addresses
and individual efforts succeeded in raising large amounts of
money to save them for permanent usefulness.

His successor has not yet been selected.

Utah and New Mexico.

The fourteen schools in these two states are working in a
militant atmosphere. From the standpoint of two religions, at
least, the}^ are not wanted, and there would be great rejoicing
if they would strike their tents and silently steal away.

The people, however, for whom these schools are maintained
are earnest and loyal friends and would deplore their departure.

Both the monarchical and oligarchical forms of religion
are, and always have been, hostile to a religious democracy.

1913.] CONGREGATIONAL EDUCATION SOCIETY. 126

The two orders cannot amalgamate; they may dwell side by
side, but they do not fuse.

In that fact the Education Society sees its mission in
Utah and New Mexico, and its steady endeavor is to give
liberty to the captive mind and broaden the religious horizon
of the hundreds of youths now enrolled in its schools.

There are gratifying sigTis that the long years of educa-
tional work in both these states is bearing fruit. First in a
growing independence among the youth of Utah who are daring
to think for themselves, and in the insistence of the people
on more and better schools even in face of the hostility of
church authorities.

In New Mexico, the continual neglect of the people by the
Romish church is bringing out in sharp contrast the devotion,
self-sacrifice, and tolerance of the Christian teacher, and the
young people are inquiring into the merits and tenets of Protes-
tantism and are awakening to a sense of the importance of
education. One Mexican father with his children drove 285
miles to one of our schools.

Another important fact to be remembered is that the line
between New and Old Mexico is imaginary and that the United
States Mexican has the same blood, superstitions, and reli-
gious customs as his brother to the south of him. Therefore
what ideals and training we give the upper Mexican will in time
be felt by the lower Mexican, and the woeful historj^ of Mexico
during the past few years is a piteous appeal to the Christian
church to carry south the glad message of the Gospel and the
teaching of human brotherhood.

For the present at least CongregationaHsts may well turn
their eyes to the South and increase their contributions and
interest in this needy field.

Gentlemen of the Council, in view of the general present-
day movement toward more complete, better directed, more
widely dijffused education in our land, the work of the Educa-
tion Society comes into clearer view and more vital importance.
It is in accord with the most enlightened spirit of the times in
that it deals with the young and inculcates the ideals of religion.

Whatever modifications may take place in our educational
policy in coming years, whether there be one or two educational
societies, the fundamental fact Avill not change that there is

126 CONGREGATIONAL EDUCATION SOCIETY. [l913.

need of a forward movement of our Congregational educational
forces; of a renewal of our faith in the evolutionary process that
goes back of the foundation of the Christian Church and is co-
ordinate with the process of creation; of a belief that as a de-
nomination Congregationalists are fitted, by tradition and
training, to help on this spiritual evolution, and that wherever
under the flag a school of any description is needed, from the
kindergarten to the highest professional or technical institu-
tion, the educational forces of Congregationalists are ready to
render assistance. The Education Society of the denomina-
tion should be big enough to know no creed or race or social
condition, but wherever there are darkened minds, ill-trained
wills, and prejudiced spirits, there are the Macedonias calling
for the institutions of whatever name that bring light, strength,
and peace.

1913.] STATEMENT AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION. 127

STATEMENT OF THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY
ASSOCIATION.

In this good year of our Lord, the jubilee year of the emancipa-
tion of the American negro, the courts have pronounced on
the Baltimore segregation ordinance forbidding white people
and black people to live in the same areas of the city. They
call it technically invalid but legally tenable. This opens the
way for the Ghetto in America. Florida has forbidden white
people to teach negroes in schools. No state has ever gone so
far since the slave codes. Something is happening in Washing-
ton which we hesitate to characterize, but the Atlanta Con-
stitution says, " Segregation of blacks and whites in all govern-
ment work is rapidly being put into operation in all executive
departments of the government." California has denied the
right of land ownership to Orientals. The City College of
New York has had one of its fraternity charters revoked for the
scarcely veiled reason that most of its students are Jews. We
have been close to war with Mexico over matters which at the
bottom are largely based on mutual contempt. These facts
testify to the abiding moral problem which is the life of this
Association. Perhaps we ought to refuse to catalogue our
activities or report our finances until we have reminded ourselves
that the American Missionary Association at the first was not
a benevolent board nor an ecclesiastical agency, but a fighting
fellowship in behalf of a great cause. Perhaps even now our
chief function is not the carrying on of particular missions, but
persistent testimony to high convictions about human brother-
hood. At an}'^ rate, we have a fundamental task left, the
events of the past year being witness.

We render a full account of our stewardship to our constitu-
ency in a detailed annual report. This brief survey attempts
only to give a compressed account of some outstanding phases
of our service, with a few statistics, and a brief discussion of
more immediate issues. Its treatment is annalistic, and its
design to give the student of our records an easy means of com-

128 STATEMENT AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION. [l913.

parison from year to year. For the present year, this survey
stands also as our report to the National Council.

Educational Missions in the South.

Schools. Negro. White.

Theological 2 1

Colleges 5 1

Secondary 23 3

Elementary 8 3

Ungraded 23

Affihated 4 1

65 9

(Pupils.)

Theological 161 47

Collegiate 3.53 30

Secondary 1,718 250

Elementary 9,337 1,326

Special 528 22

Totals 12,097 1,675

Increase over 1911-12 144 32

Last year, we noted a considerable decrease in the enroll-
ment of our schools, and judged that it was largely due to the
particularly inclement winter of 1911-12, and that it would be
largely temporary. We anticipated, however, as in previous
years, a permanent decrease of enrollment in the lower grades.
Our forecast seems to have been justified by the statistics of
this j^ear, showing a net gain of 144 pupils in the negi'o schools
and 32 in the white. This is coincident with the loss of 225
in the lower grades, which is overcome by an increase of about
400 in high school and higher departments. In brief, the figures
mark still further the tendency of our schools to become institu-
tions of advanced grade, to approximate the ideals in which
they were founded, and to justify their somewhat ambitious
names. There are a good many exceptions, but on the whole
the development of elementary education in the South gives
us the right increasingly to leave that work to the public
schools.

Among notable specific gains, we note the large increase of
college students in Tillotson College and Straight University;

1913.] STATEMENT AMEEICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION. 129

the vastly improved financial condition of Tougaloo University;
the remarkable showing of Talladega College in proJEitable
agriculture, and the recogTiition by government inspectors and
the white community that it has solved some of the acute
problems of farming for the entire region; the extension of the
agricultural service of Tougaloo University by the organization
of local farmers and the establishment of boys' corn clubs; and
the promising local hospital movement at Greenwood, S. C.
An increase of nearly $6,000 in tuition receipts was a decisive
factor in preventing debt on the current year. This was the
largest item of gain in the field of support.

On the side of technical education, a period of experiments
has culminated in the establishment of a variety of standard
courses of instruction, and the more precise definition of school
ends and requirements. These have had general acceptance
by our workers in the field, and have notably toned up the
schools. Our efforts in this realm have had the attention and
cooperation of similar agencies for negro education.

With our more developed type of education, and especially
with our increased vocational emphasis in many schools, ad-
ministrators of greater technical training than some of the
older generations of missionaries had, have become necessary;
and it is natural they should be more largely men. The ten-
dency in this direction has been especially strong in a year
marked by the passing of an unusual number of our older
workers, and the necessity of securing new ones.

One of the most serious barriers to the elevation of backward
groups is the fact that they generally live in houses which
make decency difficult or impossible. In gathering their chil-
dren out of such houses into mission schools, the Association
creates another housing problem. We tacitly promise to
furnish accommodations which will make decency more easy;
but our success is getting challenged in recent days. With
their rising standard of living, students and parents are object-
ing to some of our schools and dormitories on the ground that
they are not so good as they have at home. Even the belated
but rapidly awakening South not infrequently demands in the
name of the law that we create better physical conditions for
our missionary work. Thus, extensive sanitary improve-
ments have been required this year by the Macon and Albany

130 STATEMENT AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION. [1913.

(Georgia) boards of health. Charleston, S. C, now demands
similar changes, while Memphis compels absolutely fireproof
construction in the new Le Moyne Institute school building.

In view of these tendencies, it is an embarrassment and
humiliation to the Association that it has not- yet been able to
provide everywhere these minimum requirements of decent
collective living which everybody recognizes, viz., an unques-
tionable supply of pure water, reasonable safety from fire,
proper disposal of sewage, so as not further to contaminate the
soil in a hookworm-ridden section, and adequate privacy in
living quarters. To these minimum requirements some of us
would add a little vestige of beauty, as every soul's inalienable
right.

It is the attempt to meet these requirements which gives
chief significance to the recent building operations of the Asso-
ciation. New or enlarged dormitories at King's Mountain,
Greenwood, and Cappahosic, the erection of faculty cottages
in order to relieve overcrowded dormitories at Brick, and the
extension of the water system at Fessenden are steps in the right
direction taken during the past year. Yet not one of the larger
institutions, save Talladega College, has at all adequately met
these requirements as to physical plant, and there is hardly
a rural school which does not fall woefully short of them.

Is it too much to ask that the new social conscience toward the
housing problem may be extended to the institutions which
try to teach decency in home living and that large funds be made
available for school plants? A chance visitor last winter repaid
the hospitality of Beach Institute at Savannah, Ga., by a check
for one thousand dollars for betterments there.

The habit of cooperation with Southern white men of vision
and good-will, and with other agencies of missionary service
is so old and firmly fixed that we do not always think to record
it. We have had unusually notable and delightful experiences
in such fellowship during the past year. Hopeful plans of
larger and more practical phases of fellowship are under way in
connection with local boards of trustees, the cooperative activity
of other national boards and agencies, and through the Home
Missions Council.

1913.] statement american missionary association. 131
Church Work in the South.

Number of churches 181

Ministers and missionaries 107

Church members 10,746

Total additions 762

Sunday-school scholars 8,.350

Benevolent contributions $3,923.77

Raised for church purposes $51,183.27

There is a slight decrease in number of commissioned workers,
in membership, additions, Sunday-school enrollment, and
benevolence. In these respects, our reports read quite like the
Congregational Year-Book. We should hke to have done better
than the rest of the denomination.

New churches have been organized at Oak Grove, Ga.;
Burlington, N. C; Gueymas, La.; and Runge, Tex.; and
work rehabilitated at Rankin ville, N. C; Columbia, S. C;
and Boley, Okla. The extension of Congregationalism among
the negroes is being supported aggressively, and its spurious
forms guarded against. Too much of our " spontaneous
Congregationalism " in the past has originated in Methodist
and Baptist quarrels. A negro pastor, arguing in behalf of a
new Congregational church in North Carolina, writes: " Three
quarters of a mile from the depot there are more than nine
hundred negroes; no white people in the place. It has two
schools, seven well-built churches, paying an average salary of
$150 per year, two small negro stores," etc. It is needless to
report that we did not enter into this abundant opportunity
for an additional Congregational church.

We record with thankfulness the decided tendency toward
self-support from within the negro churches, enforced by the
strong sentiment of their leaders. Anniston, Ala., and Char-
lotte, N. C, are just on the edge of achieving such financial
independence, and others are on the way. As a group, the
negro churches raised five thousand dollars more for church
expenses than last year. The majority of negro churches,
however, are still overwhelmingly dependent. Ordinary Con-
gregational precedents fail in the financial development of their
life. Thus, the national Home Missionary Society probably
pays an average of one third of the support of pastors under its
commission; the A. M. A. pays two thirds. The Church

132 STATEMENT AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION. [1913.

Building Society expects to pay not more than one third of the
cost of church buildings in which it assists; this Association
must usually pay two thirds. In brief, financial proportions
have just about to be reversed in our denominational cooperation
with these churches. Shall denominational control foUoAV the
same proportions; or shall the denomination give more money
and relatively less control to negro churches than to any others?

No one can deal with the hopes and aspirations of these
churches without feeling that their initiative and self-conscious-
ness is something to be touched reverently. Their religious
genius includes fresh and unexplored spiritual potencies. It is
a stream of grace newly sprung from the Source of all grace,
from which uniquely interesting expressions are to be expected.
It is easy to feel in the collective religious life of the negro
churches the presence of a very holy thing, but not so easy to
follow this gleam out into particular methods of cooperation.
We believe in the negro churches, in the negro churches as
vitally Congregational, and in their Congregational develop-
ment from within. On the other hand, the financial contacts
which effect this process include a good many perplexities in
which the Association needs sympathy as well as the churches.

We cannot escape a profound pedagogic responsibility. Our
duty of leadership is just as holy as theirs of self -development.
We must stubbornly insist upon vital if not conventional Con-
gregational standards, and it is into the reality of freedom, and
not its mere semblance, which we are bound to lead this people
if we can.

Indian Missions.

Churches 22

Stations and outstations 19

Church members 1,266

Sunday-school scholars 488

Benevolent contributions $1,760.02

Raised for church piu-poses $1,701.14

Missionaries and evangelists 34

Santee Normal Training School, Santee, N^eb.

Instructors 17

Pupils 141

Boarders 113

Correspondence pupils 158

1913.] STATEMENT AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION. 133

Most of the Indian mission fields of the Association are no
longer in '' Indian country " exclusively or dominantly, but
rather in white country in the making, in which Indians live
in small communities and on individual lands. While strongly
resisted by aboriginal habits, this fixing of a particular family
on a particular spot of ground as home is increasingly accepted.
From cattle raising on the open range, the Sioux are being forced
into farming on the fenced acreage. This transition is being
greatly complicated by the still equivocal status of the Indian
before the law, and by the amiable, hesitant, and changeable
paternalism of the Government. The Government holds the
proceeds of the sale of surplus reservation lands, and the in-
come from timber, oil, and mineral rights for the benefit of the
Indians, who thus suddenly find themselves in the position of
the idle rich, living upon an unearned increment, subject to the
downward pull of primitive vices, and withoul the normal
incentives to industry. It is a heavy handicap to place upon a
morally bewildered people, and under it the Indian is waging
a still dubious battle.

The new order of things in the Indian country is compelling
missionary work to reconstruct itself geographically. The
railroad and the town are making the map over again — fre-
quently twice over. As a consequence, the missionar}^ head-
quarters of the Standing Rock reservation was changed two
years ago, and that of the Rosebud reservation during the past
year. Moving the Cheyenne River heaquarters is now under
consideration. These questions of location, of property, and
of new buildings have had large attention, and have involved
increased financial outlay. Our missionary lands, meanwhile,
have greatly increased in value, and will in the long run con-
stitute a considerable working endowment.

Government institutions, as well as missionary, are respond-
ing to changed geographical factors, and are in turn becoming a
secondary influence in remaking the map of missions. Thus
the closing of the Grand River school, two years ago, threw all
the older children of the Standing Rock reservation into a
government school wholly under Catholic dominance. For
two years, we have attempted to minimize the difficulty by
transporting our mission children the long distance to Santee.

134 STATEMENT AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION. [l913.

Now, however, we are opening a school for the younger chil-
dren at Fort Yates, with an excessive enrollment.

Some of the best recent work of our missionaries has been in
connection with the incoming white populations in their frontier
isolation. Especially strategic has. been their influence upon
newly founded institutions, shaping them so as to recognize
and provide for the Indians as fellow-citizens, and thus making
for the health and peace of the two races who must henceforth
live in close and intimate contact. Cordial response has been
shown by the incoming white population to these efforts. In
our most recent field • — Modoc County, California — the work
for the Pitt River Indians and the white settlers has been con-
ducted under common leadership in connection with the State
Congregational agencies, and with such good results that the
work will be enlarged during the coming year.

Our long-established comity with the Presbyterians in the
Dakota Indian work has now developed into active cooperation
in a Bible training department in the Santee Normal School.
The Presbj^terian Board will erect a building for the depart-
ment, and furnish the additional teaching force. This move-
ment expresses the conviction of the Indian workers that a
higher grade of leadership in the native ministry is a supreme
necessity in these perplexing transition years. That such
leadership must be economic as well as spiritual is indicated
by the large place occupied by agriculture and social questions
in the " Bible training " curriculum.

PoRTO RicAN Missions.

Ordained American missionaries 3

Native workers 9

Churches 11

Membership 595

Benevolent contributions 1136.78

Outstations 24

Lady missionaries 4

Teachers in Blanche Kellogg Institute (additional) . . 7

Enlarged church and community work has been carried on in
Santurce in connection with Blanche Kellogg Institute with
great success. An especially designed settlement house was
erected during the year. An additional social worker is just on

1913.] STATEMENT AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION. 135

the field. The educational work of the mstitute is also strength-
ened.

The erection by the Church Building Society of a parsonage
building for the Fajardo mission headquarters completes a
most excellent plant, and a similar parsonage for the Humacao
district headquarters is just being begun.

The medical mission has been temporarily discontinued,
pending the erection of suitable residence and hospital build-
ings. We report, wdth great regret, that appropriations which
would have partly housed this work had to be turned back into
the treasury in order to avoid debt on the past year. Conse-
quently, we must begin all over again the wearing struggle for
funds, and this in the face of the physical breakdown of new
missionaries who might have been protected by proper medical
care. Without this branch of the service, we can neither serve
the people nor save our own workers. Its delay is in every
way expensive.

French observers have recently commented upon the growing
unpopularit}^ of Americans in Panama, ascribing it to our
characteristic national bumptiousness. We are not loved in
Mexico. In Porto Rico, hitherto, we have been tolerated
because of the economic prosperity that followed the flag.
Now, however, tariff changes have greatly crippled the sugar
industry, bringing about the failure of great factories in our
district. Everywhere, the cry of " hard times " is heard, and
hard times, should they continue, could hardly fail to issue in
pohtical discontent, making for estrangement between the
island and the nation. Themoral strength of our successes in
Spanish America is yet to be tried by fire, and we shall need
all the ties of Christian brotherhood which missions can forge
against that day.

Oriental Missions.

Churches 13

Members 823

Additions 129

Enrolhnent in mission schools 951

Workers (white, 23; orientals, 20) 43

Another race has come under the ministries of the Associa-
tion this year in connection with an interdenominational evangel-

136 STATEMENT AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION. [1913.

ism for Hindus which it has partially supported and directed
during the past year. Pathetic and miserable indeed is the
state of this intensely religious people in a land and under
conditions which inevitably destroy their religious restraints,
and generally forget to substitute any better ones. Their
scattered location and small numbers (about four thousand in
all) render institutional work for them difficult, but we are able
to avoid at least the reproach of total neglect. Sentiment
varies in California as to their desirability as immigrants, even
in small numbers.

Interdenominational movements have characterized the
Japanese work also, accentuated doubtless by a certain new
assertiveness on their part, growing out of — or at least coinci-
dent with — recent political agitation on the Pacific coast.
With highly educated leaders, a strong Christian press in their
own tongue, and the consciousness of administrative capacity,
the Japanese will doubtless increasingly control their own
affairs, while expecting and seeking denominational aid. Their
evangelistic spirit is very strong, and we gladly accord it free-
dom, and the right to its own characteristic expression.

While the Chinese are slower to show initiative, the stimulat-
ing effects of recent tendencies in China continue to manifest
themselves. Material equipment has been decidedly improved.
The Chinese in San Francisco and vicinity have secured a special
evangelist from Canton, bearing all the expense of his support.
He was converted in a mission which they themselves are main-
taining in China. We recommend this method of securing
pastors to other churches !

After the California alien land law was passed, we read in the
papers that the Japanese on the Pacific coast were about to
employ a publicity agent to combat the prejudice of the Ameri-
can people. It turns out that their plan for a publicity agent
means the employment of some Christian man to go about in
their behalf as a mediator between the races. They propose
to secure him through the Christian organizations on the coast,
and to unite the Japanese of all faiths in his support. The
Japanese believe that real Christianity is the solution of the
race difficulties, and are looking as never before to our Christian
agencies for help in this monumental task.

Thechurchat Cape Princeof Wales nownumbers 1 14 members.

1913.] statement american missionary association. 137

Alaskan Missions.

After the loss of building material for two successive j'^ears
by wreck at the stormiest point on the American continent,
we rejoice to report that the new Prince of Wales chapel is now
being erected. The striking decrease in the white population
in Upper Alaska during the past decade (Nome shrunk from
fifteen thousand to two or three thousand people, and is just
now further depopulated by storm), and the increase in native
herds has reduced to almost zero the demand for reindeer
meat. Consequently, the mission herd has begun to prove an
expensive adjunct to our work. We have succeeded so well in
disseminating the reindeer industry that its maintenance by
us is probably no longer desirable.

The medical work with Wales as a center continues with
increasing usefulness, and the missionaries are greatly blessed
in this remote and lonely field by the cooperation of earnest
Christian teachers in the government educational service.

Hawaii^

The energetic and wise administration of the Hawaiian
Evangelical Association has been continued during the year.
The American Missionary Association, cooperating wdth and
acting through the Evangelical Association, effects results more
important than could be secured except by such cooperation.
The Hawaiian churches have gained encom-agingly, especially
through additions on confession of faith. The membership now
of the native Hawaiian churches is 5,046. The sobering fact
with reference to our Hawaiian churches is that the Hawaiian
ministry is being steadily depleted. During this past year
two men in the active ministry have died, two have relinquished
their work on account of disability, and one has withdrawTi
from service. Practical and aggressive union churches are
evidences of the increase of the spirit of Christian fellowship.
The work among the Chinese and Japanese has advanced with
hopeful increase. The islands are so largely dependent upon
the price of sugar that there has been serious anxiety concerning
the present condition of the tariff. On the whole, the Hawaiian
work, both in school and church, is advancing with steady but
quiet progress.

138 statement american missionary association. [1913.

Bureau of Woman's Work.

The women's state organizations have continued their co-
operation with the American Missionary Association in con-
tributions amounting to $30,317.12, which, with the additional
contributions of $2,578.76, — mostly specials directly from
women's local societies, — makes a total of $32,895.88 to the
credit of woman's work in this field of the A. M. A. The
amounts given through the state organizations are now very
largely available for the regular appropriation of the Associa-
tion, and, so far as thus available, have been counted on church
apportionment. These contributions through the state unions
have been assigned according to their request to specific schools
and missionaries to which their interest has been turned, and
in so doing they have been brought into relation with twenty-
eight schools and missions in the A. M. A. field. In their
direct support of missionaries they have sustained twenty-one
in the South among the negroes, thirteen among the southern
mountaineers, twelve among the Indians, and four in Porto
Rico, a total of fifty designated representatives with whom
thej^ have been in correspondence through the A. M. A. Bureau
of Woman's Work. In reporting this financial aid we would
recognize also the benefit to the work through the activity of
women in their missionary work in the churches, and that they
are entering more and more into the true meaning of cooperation
with the Association in the study of its work and recognition
of its needs.

The retirement of Miss D. E. Emerson from the secretaryship
of the Bureau of Woman's Work, the committee reports with
sincere regret. Miss Emerson has been secretary of this de-
partment for thirty years, and it has really assumed its large
proportions under her skillful and wise administration.

Mrs. F, W. Wilcox has been elected by the Executive Com-
mittee as secretary of the Bureau of Woman's Work for the
ensuing year, and has immediately taken up the duties of the
office.

Endowment Campaign,

In accordance with the resolution adopted at the annual
meeting at_^ Buffalo, one year ago, the Executive Committee
promptly undertook the development and execution of a plan

1913.1 STATEMENT AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION. 139

for the raising of an Emancipation Jubilee Endowment Fund
of one million dollars for the higher educational institutions
connected with the Association. Early in the year Mr. Harvey
L. Simmons, of Brooklyn, N. Y., was elected Associate Secre-
tary, in charge of the campaign. The committee issued its
appeal for this million-dollar offering, asking all pastors and
laymen to rally to the aid of the educational work of the Asso-
ciation. Subscriptions were to be made to a particular institu-
tion should a donor so request, or to the general fund to be
divided pro rata among the six institutions according to the
division determined upon by the committee, as follows: Fisk
University, $250,000; Talladega College, $150,000; Tougaloo
University, $150,000; Straight University, $150,000; Tillot-
son College, $150,000; Piedmont College, $150,000. It seemed
wise to at first give particular attention to Fisk University,
with the purpose of completing the fund which the trustees of
that university must complete by June 1 of this year in order
to secure a large conditional gift from the General Education
Board. That task was accomplished and a little more; the
Fisk fund was saved, and a total of $218,645 of the million-
dollar fund secured. Faculty, alumni, and students of the
several schools are making generous contributions, as well as
the colored churches North and South. For instance, at Fisk
they pledged forty-five thousand dollars, one fourth of which
has been paid in. The committee must now address itself to
securing the remaining $781,355, not an easy task, but one that
can be accomplished if the Christians and patriots make the
generous response to the opportunity and privilege here offered
of which they are capable. A renewed appeal to the church is
now made with both hope and confidence. The Association
faces a real problem in connection with this part of its educa-
tional work, and needs to be relieved at once from the serious
embarrassment which it faces on account of the rapid growth
and enlargement of the past few years.

Financial.

In the report from the treasury department rendered by
Treasurer Hubbard last year, he feelingly expressed gratitude
and thanksgiving that there was a small balance on the credit

140 STATEMENT AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION. [1913.

side of the account. In making the report this year, the com-
mittee expresses gratitude that the balance on the debit side of
the account is so small.

As has been set forth in other parts of the report, the year
has been one of peculiar anxiety and stress. Despite this fact,
by economic expenditures and united and earnest effort, there
is only a small deficit.

The current receipts for the year were $441,551.15, and the
expenditures were $442,173.50, making the debit balance on
the year $622.35. Deducting from this amount the credit
balance of last year, $299.61, leaves a net deficit of $322.74
on the year. Below are given the receipts and expenditures
for the twelve months compared with the twelve months of the
previous year.

It will be seen from the report of donations during the year
that they have increased to the amount of $2,292.41 over those
of the previous year. A closer analysis of the sources of these
donations shows that the churches in their stated collections
have decreased to the amount of $1,909.75; the Sunday-schools
have shown a considerable increase, and the Women's Societies
have shown a wholesome gain of $1,172.68.

The amount received from legacies was slightly less than that
of the previous year, showing a decrease of $212.36.

An interesting feature of the financial statement is found
under the designation of Individuals. The gifts from indivi-
duals show an increase of $2,274.89, as compared with the pre-
ceding year. It has been feared that the pressure to secure
larger gifts from the churches might bring into the church
collections considerable sums which had previously come as
individual gifts. This year, however, the individual gifts
have slightly increased.

Under the reserve legacy plan all undesignated legacies over
one thousand dollars and under twenty-five thousand dollars
are divided into three parts, one third being expended on the
current year, one third on the next year, and the other third on
the third year from the date at which the legacy is received.
This is a conservative method, and furnishes a balance during
a series of years.

The Conditional Gifts, as they become available, are divided
into three parts, according to the Reserve Legacy Plan.

1913.] STATEMENT AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION. 141

CURRENT RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES FOR FISCAL YEAR

ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, AS COMPARED WITH THOSE

OF THE PREVIOUS YEAR.

Receipts.

1911-12. 1912-13. Increase. Decrease.

Donations:

From churches $99,0.54.11 .$97,144.36 $1,909.75

From S. S 9,360.11 10,113.65 $753.54

From Y. P. S. C. E. . . 2,012.48 1,668.15 344.33

From W. M. S 29,163..53 30,336.21 1,172.68

From other societies.. 10.00 8.S9 1.11

Total $139,600.23 $139,271.26 $328.97

Individuals 70,429.71 72,704.60 $2,274.89

Total $210,029.94 $211,975.86 $1,945.92

Conditional gifts 9,545.05 10,033.33 488.28

Joint campaign 143.18 1.39 $141.79

Total donations, $219,718.17 $222,010.58 $2,292.41
Legacies 110,654.65 110,442.29 $212.36

Total $330,372.82 $332,452.87 $2,080.05

Income 27,721.26 28,760.30 1,039.04

Tuition 67,-587.07 73,387.98 5,800.91

Slater Fund 7,000.00 . 6,950.00 $50.00

Total receipts. .. $432,681.15 $441,.551.15 $8,870.00
Expenditures 417,862.98 442,173.50 24,310.52

Cr. bal. on the year $14,818.17

Dr. bal. on the year $622.35

Cr. bal. on previous year 299.61

Dr. bal. on previous year 14,518.56

Cr. bal., Sept. 30, 1912 . . $299.61

Dr. bal., Sept. 30, 1913 . . $322.74

An encouraging feature of the financial report which friends
of the Association will appreciate is the increase of $24,310.52
in the reinforcement of the work. Buildings have been erected
and improvements made at various points, and this increased
expenditure has been met and has added to the efficiency of the
mission work.

142 STATEMENT AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION. [1913.

THE DANIEL HAND INCOME ACCOUNT.

Balance on hand October 1, 1912 $441.93

Income for the year was -. 70,825.94

Making a total of , $71,267.87

The expenditures were 69,698.15

Leaving a balance in hand of $1,569.72

Income for special objects not in current receipts
was a.s follows :
Income for African Missions paid to the A. B. C. F. M., $3,865.62

Income for Berea College 224.84

Income for Atlanta University 494.65

Total special income $4,585.11

The following endowments were received:

The Brown Fund for Colored People, additional $175.00

From " A Friend " 100.00

Wm. F. MerriU Memorial Fund, additional, securities

valued at 6,916.00

CaroUne M. Martin:

For Demorest, Ga $2,000.00

For Santee, Neb 2,000.00

For Memphis, Tenn 2,000.00

For Austin, Tex 2,000.00

For Chnton, Miss 2,000.00

For New Orleans, La 2,000.00

For Enfield, N. C 2,000.00

For Evarts, Ivy 2,000.00

For Santurce, Porto Rico 2,000.00

For Cotton Valley School, Ala 2,000.00

For Fessenden, Fla 2,000.00

For Marion, Ala 2,000.00

For Mcintosh, Ga 2,000.00

For Kings Mountain, N. C 2,000.00

28,000.00

Total for endowment for current work $35,191.00

Daniel Hand Endowment Fund :

Estate of Daniel Hand 5,104.00

Total $40,295.00

1913.] STATEMENT AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION. 143

SUMMARY OF RECEIPTS FOR THE YEAR.

Current work $441,551.15

Current work, income Daniel Hand Fund, 70,825.94

— $512,377.09

Income not in current receipts 4,585.11

Endowment funds $35,191.00

Endowment funds, Daniel Hand 5,104.00

40,295.00

$557,257.20

RESERVE LEGACY ACCOUNTS.

Amount for current work, 1913-14 $54,868.61

Amount for current work, 1914-15 19;228.60

RESERVE CONDITIONAL ACCOUNTS.

Amount for current work, 1913-14 $8,700.00

Amount for current work, 1914-15 2,666.67

The conditional gift plan appeals especially to those who have
the interests of the Association at heart, but desire to have an
income from their fmids during their lifetime. In making
donations under the conditional gift plan, the friends know that
their remembrances of the missionary work are safely guarded
and thej^ are assured of a regular stated income, and at the same
time know that the amount of their gifts goes straight into the
treasury of the A. M. A., according to the desire of the benefac-
tors. We call the special attention of our friends to the condi-
tional gift plan in aiding the work of the A. M. A.

Among Our Constituents.

The deep and profound sympathy expressed to the Executive
Committee and officers of the A. M. A. has been very greatly
appreciated. The year has been one of peculiar sorrow and
anxiet3^ It seems almost incredible that, in the immediate
group of those connected with the work of the A. M. A., no less
than fourteen have fallen by death during the last twelve
months. Among those who have been taken away were men
and women prominent in the work and counsels of the A. M. A.
and of inestimable value. Appropriate memorial services have
been held at this annual meeting, and words of appreciation
and honor have been spoken. The anxieties and sorrows of

144 STATEMENT AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION. [l913.

the year have been widely felt throughout the entire constitu-
ency of the Association. Those who remain in the work have
not sat down to weep under the bereavement of these months,
but have sought to reinforce the work and to accomplish with
the lessened force all that could be done.

The financial exhibit of the year is fairly encouraging. The
duties of the office of treasurer were laid upon a corresponding
secretary in addition to his work in the secretarial office. The
Committee on Finance, as well as that on Support, were called
to additional labor and responsibility through the limitation
of the force of active officers.

Despite these embarrassments and perplexing difficulties,
the work has been carried on with encouraging success. The
report in the mission fields already recorded is one of cheer and
progress.

The increase in the amount received in the treasury from
donations and legacies is $2,080.05. In the analysis of these
receipts it is shown that the churches, in their stated collections,
have not quite made up the sum of their gifts of the year before.
The Sunday-schools have increased a considerable percentage,
and the women's missionary organizations of the churches have
also shown a wholesome gain.

Certain movements under the direction of the Association
are especially significant and interesting. Lincoln Memorial
Sunday, established by the A. M. A. in 1894, has been steadily
increasing in importance to the Sunday-schools and to the
Association. The literature prepared for the study of Lin-
coln's life and period, giving the emphasis to the value of Chris-
tian patriotism, has been in wide demand. During the last
few years, exact records have been kept, and it is shown that
more than 519,000 young people and children have kept Lin-
coln Memorial Sunday under the suggestion of the A. M. A.
It is to the honor of our Congregational fellowship also that this
celebration, introduced by our denomination through the
A. M. A., has been adopted by those of other Christian de-
nominations, and that they, too, find it a day of unusual
interest and value.

Indeed, beyond the limits of our church fellowship of all
denominations. Grand Army Posts and Chapters of the D. A. R.
and many women's auxiliaries to the Grand Army, have taken

1913.] STATEMENT AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION. 145

up the keeping of a memorial day, and have frequently used the
literature published by the Association for study and inspira-
tion. The value of such a day, calling attention to the unique
and rugged honesty of Abraham Lincoln, the needs of the people
from whom he came in the American highlands, and the people
who were freed by his magic pen in the Southland, and those
who came into Christian consideration of the nation on the west-
ern prairies can hardly be overestimated. It mingles patriotism
and Christian instruction attractively and impressively. The
financial results of Lincoln Memorial Sunday have been the
free-hearted contribution of many of the young people amount-
ing to many thousands of dollars to the Association.

We acknowledge with gratitude the increasing appreciation of
our constituency in the rapid growth of the work of the A. M. A.
Thoughtful citizens are giving their attention to the care of Ori-
ental immigration as never before. The Hindus, added to the
other elements of the Oriental problem under our ovm flag, are
attracting wdde attention. They are not so numerous as yet,
but present many elements of difficulty in the effort to incor-
porate them within our own body politic. The constituency
of the A. M. A. are recognizing the fact more and more that these
problems of Oriental immigration and residence, both in conti-
nental and insular United States, are perhaps the most profound
and difficult and pressing of any problems of national or Chris-
tian development.

The presence of the disease Icnowoi as the " hookworm "
among the Hindus and Chinese, in which it has been discovered
that a large percentage of the Hindus are infected, presents a
condition of sanitation which cannot be neglected. The re-
ports from the California Oriental Mission, with whom the
A. M. A. cooperates on the Pacific slope, -^dll be read with great
interest. They demand very careful attention, and must
bear heavily upon the responsibility of the A. M. A. in the
future.

In this report of last year the following statement was made :
" One thing is far better than a year without debt, and that is a
year when we have met not only unavoidable obhgations, but
have fairly assumed the responsibilities of the advancing
Kingdom. For this more splendid triumph let us rally and go
forward." It is chsappointing to be obfiged to acknowledge

146 STATEMENT AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION. [l913.

that the year which has just closed did not reahze this full
vision. There is still a vast amount of work demanded in the
field of the A. M. A. just beyond the reach of its possibilities
on account of the inadequate support which it receives. There
is no work more imperative and immediate than that among
these millions of our most needy American citizens.

1913.] CONGREGATIONAL HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY. 147

CONGREGATIONAL HOIVIE MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

Triennial Statement to National Council.

rev. hubert c. herring, d.d., secretary.

During the period to be considered, the National, State,
and City Home Mission organizations of the denomination
have maintained an annual average of 1,743 missionaries
under commission serving an average aggregate of 2,481
churches and missions and maintaining 2,334 Sunday-schools.
Of these aided churches, 401 used languages other than Eng-
lish, speaking a total of 23 languages. New churches were
organized at an average rate of 139 per year, and new houses
of worship erected by aided churches to the nmnber of 101 per
year. Parsonages built were 42 per year, churches coming to self-
support were 92 in number each year, and those who having at-
tained self-support were compelled to ask renewed aid averaged
GO. In a general waj^ the above figures as to churches and Sun-
day-schools represent a slight increase, while the number of
missionaries remained about the same. The roll of foreign-
speaking churches was considerably enlarged. New organiza-
tions and new chm'ches were substantially the same from year
to year, with a slight increase in the number of churches
coming to self-support. The number asking renewed aid
showed a marked increase in 1912, owing mainly to drought in
the West.

The average annual income for the last three years of the
National, State, and City societies taken together was $582,539.
The average for the National Society was $259,554.

Outstanding Features.

The past triennium has seen the full development of the plan
of federated relationship between National, State, and City
societies which was inaugurated six years ago. The results
have been highly gratifying. There has been thorough-going
cooperation, and, it is believed, a marked increase of efficiency.

148 CONGREGATIONAL HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY. [l913.

The midwinter conference held each year, in which directors,
superintendents, etc., to the number of about sixty, take
counsel together concerning all aspects of their common task,
has become a central feature of the year. As an agency making
for mutual understanding, for the training of new officials
and for initiating concerted plans, its importance can hardly
be over-estimated.

The society has continued the policy of concentrating effort
upon regions already entered, in contrast with that of opening
new territory. Until greatly increased resources of men and
money are at hand, the intensive cultivation of old fields takes
precedence over the annexation of new ones. In line with this
policy, new church organizations have been rapidly formed
in states like the Dakotas, Montana, and Idaho, while requests
to enter Nevada and to extend our work in Tennessee, Ken-
tucky, etc., have been declined.

There has been a marked development in the publicity
methods of the society. Through increased use of the stere-
opticon, the printed page, the chart, and the " demonstra-
tion," it has sought to inform its constituency more fully as
to the facts bearing on home mission work. The cost of this
enlarged publicity effort has not been markedly greater than
hitherto, owing to the reduction in the deficit of The Ameri-
can Missionary, and other economies.

The society has borne its full share in the extension of inter-
denominational activities which has marked recent years.
The Neglected Fields Survey, the institution of Home Mission
Week, the cooperative plan now on foot for cultivating the
immigrant field, and other lesser features of concerted effort,
have had its active support. There is every reason to believe
that the end of sectarian competition in home missions is not
far away.

There has been a steady endeavor to escape the bondage of
routine, and both to understand and meet the new responsibili-
ties which changing conditions force upon us. It may be of
service to give a brief analysis of the t>'pes of service which now
confront home mission forces. There are five clearly defined
fields. In some degree they overlap, but each has its own
peculiar problems and demands. The first of these is found
among —

1913.] CONGREGATIONAL HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY. 149

The Belated Races.

The negro, the Indian, and the isolated mountain dwellers
in the Appalachians, with some smaller groups, both in conti-
nental United States and its dependencies, have placed upon
the Christian church an unescapable duty and a wonderful
opportunity. By a very happy outworking of providentially
guided events, this field is in our denomination entrusted to a
special organization, the American Missionary Association,
whose sixty years of splendid achievement are among our
grounds for denominational pride. No measure of support
which it may receive can outrun the vast responsibilities which
it carries.

The Frontier.

The second tj^e of service is found in the historic realm
of home mission effort, — the frontier. The Congregational
Home Missionary Society has, throughout its eighty-seven
years of existence, been ceaselessly pressing into the new com-
munities of the West. The occasion for such activity has not
grown materially less, though its form is gradually changing.
New lines of railroad are still building across plains and moun-
tain range, with little towns punctuating their course. Indian
reservations are being opened to settlement, making place for
thousands of homesteaders every year. Irrigation areas are
being created, with possibilities of intensive farming and dense
rural population. Dry farming methods are being applied, trans-
forming the range into farms. New mining centers are being
developed, with resultant new communities. As in past years,
Congregationalism still proves peculiarly adapted to the needs
of these pioneer neighborhoods. Its flexible and its catholic
spirit enable Christians of various races and creeds to come
together without friction or sense of difference. Congrega-
tional missions have been established by the score during the
last trieimium in the western half of South Dakota, in Mon-
tana, and in southern Idaho, into all of which regions the people
have been pouring. A large part of this work is purely mis-
sionary, in that the missions will grow but slowly, if at all, unto
strength and self-support. In other cases, there will be, under
favoring conditions, rapid growth and distinct addition to the
assets of the denomination and the kingdom.

150 CONGREGATIONAL HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY.' [l913.

During the triennium, great progress has been made toward
better interdenominational relations in the frontier field. The
Neglected Fields Survey, initiated in 1911, proved gratify ingly
influential in bringing together home mission leaders in the
different states. It rarely happens now that a church is
established by an evangelical denomination in a community
already sufficiently supplied. Progress is being made also in
federating or eliminating superfluous organizations hitherto
planted. Congregationahsts may take great satisfaction in the
progress which is being made toward the program of economical
and fraternal cooperation for which they have always ^dtnessed.
It should perhaps in fairness be stated that the Protestant
Episcopal Church remains thus far apparently uninfluenced
by the tendency above described.

The Rural Community.

Another of the long-standing tasks of home missions is the
care of the scattered rural regions. Effort here takes either
the form of entering newly-settled areas (thus overlapping
the frontier field), or of caring for communities where a declin-
ing population, or a change in the character of the population,
has left the church too weak to carry on its work without aid.
The number of such fields is staggering. Beginning long ago,
in New England, the swift readjustment of conditions in country
places extended through the Middle States to the Central West,
and is now in full progress beyond the Mississippi. Some-
times it is the draining away of the young to the West and to
the cities; sometimes it is the supplanting of the native popula-
tion by people of foreign speech; sometimes it is the substitu-
tion of a tenant population for those who own the farms they
work; but in every case the church is the first institution to
feel the effects of the change. Nothing but the vigilance of
home missionary organizations, backed by Christian generosity,
has prevented widespread disaster. Even with such vigilance,
there has been an undoubted decline in the influence of the
country church as a whole. The present need is threefold:
First of all, a great increase in the number of missionaries
trained with reference to the demands of rural work, and
willing to devote themselves to it, not as residents of a town
from which country points may be supplied, but as part and

1913.] CONGREGATIONAL HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY. 151

parcel of the rural life which they seek to serve. Secondly,
the country church must broaden its conception of its function,
and equip itself, both physically and spiritually, to become the
center and pivot around which all that is worthy in the com-
munity life may gather. Needless to say, this must be achieved
without lowering its religious function from the supreme place.
Lastly, there must come economic, social, and ecclesiastical
changes before the country church can be lifted to its full
place of power. It will not thrive among a tenant popula-
tion; it cannot prosper except as rural life be held in higher
estimate than it now is, and there must be the cessation of
petty sectarian strife, which thrives in the country even more
than in the town.

The program thus outlined is one to which many forces
must cooperate. Its issues lie in the long future. The Congre-
gational Home Missionary Society'' is seeking to strengthen its
rural force and to put it in close relations with all effort for
the welfare of the country community.

The City.

The traditional scale of home mission work was adjusted
to the needs of small communities. Within the last thirty
years a field largelj^ new has come into existence, to which the
old standard has no manner of adaptation. The swift growth
of cities, and the unprecedented rise in values, bewilder and
baffle home mission administrators. The housing of a city
church in any adequate way for the beginning of its work
involves an expenditure three times as great as thirty years
ago. The cost of living has forced a fifty per cent increase in
pastors' salaries, an increase, indeed, which has by no means
in all cases been secured, but whose lack means usually a
reduction of efficiency. No subject has been so constantly
before the minds of the directors of the society the past three
years. They recognize, as the central and pressing need of
the hour, the securing of funds and the enlisting of specially
trained ministers in such measure as to equip the city churches
now under home mission care and those which must im-
mediately be organized with plants more adequate and leader-
ship more effective. Through the efforts of the National,

152 CONGREGATIONAL HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY. [l913.

State, and City societies, a large number of churches have been
organized in recent years, both East and West. They are, for
the most part, well located and capable of large development.
But except as they are reinforced and empowered as suggested,
many of them will die, and many more drag out a sickly exist-
ence. The times in which we live are not marked by such
eagerness to seek the fellowship of the church, and such willing-
ness to sacrifice for her welfare, as to enable us to keep pace
with city growth on the basis of resources locally obtainable
for planting and fostering new organizations. There must be
a wide participation by our whole fellowship in the total prob-
lem of evangelizing the citj^ The need of such effort is not
likely to diminish. With an urban population of 45,000,000
of people, growing at the rate of nearly a million a year, the
demand will be steady and steadily larger. Specific plans of
advance are in hand, some of them in process, but this report
does not allow space to describe them.

The Immigrant.

The last of the five fields under consideration is that created
by the unprecedented immigration of the last two or three
decades. This great volume of people of various races has
brought to the Home Missionary Society a problem essentially
new. It is new in kmd. While the society began work among
immigrants from Protestant lands about the middle of the
last century, it is only very recently that it has been called
upon to establish missions among those to whom Protestantism
is only a name. It is new in degree. With 20,000,000 persons
mthin our borders who may fairly be called foreigners, the
task presented is appallingly large. Congregationalists will
be glad to know that their home missionary organization has
diligently sought to meet this demand. About 800 churches
and missions among immigrant people bear the Congregational
name. A lot over half this number receive missionary
aid. Twenty-three languages are used in preaching to
this polyglot parish. No other denomination has an amount
of work so large as ours in proportion to its size, nor has any
denomination shown so clear adaptation to the needs of varied
peoples.

1913.] CONGREGATIONAL HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY. 153

The principal stress of the society's effort has, of course,
been upon the work among people from Protestant lands.
Its Swedish, German, and Dano-Norwegian departments are
older and stronger than the others. But for two decades it
has been establishing, as have also the state societies, an
increasing number of churches among Bohemians, Italians,
and Armenians, with a few each in a dozen of more nationali-
ties meagerlj' represented in our country. Recently there
has been distinct enlargement of work among Finns, who,
though a Protestant people, have in painful degree broken
away from their inherited allegiance to the Lutheran Church.

There is no department of home missions which presents so
many and so complicated questions for solution. A knowledge
of the racial and religious history of our immigrant population,
an accurate analysis of actual conditions now present in our
country, and a wise forecast of future developments are all
essential to the most fruitful prosecution of the task. Needless
to say, it lies within no one's power fully to meet these condi-
tions. Still less is it possible fully to control and shape the
forces which make or mar the effort undertaken. Our religious
work on behalf of immigrants is part and parcel of the huge
and trjdng experiment to vv^hich we are compelled by our de-
cision to leave our gateways open for the entrance of nearly
ever}^ one of earth's heterogeneous peoples. We can do no
more than press forward "^ith the experiment, thanking God
for all success attained and at the least endeavoring to demon-
strate the sincerity of our interest in the welfare of the stranger
within our gates.

154 STATEMENT OF THE [1913.

STATEMENT OF THE CONGREGATIONAL SUNDAY-
SCHOOL AND PUBLISHING SOCIETY TO THE
NATIONAL COUNCIL.

The three-year period since the last meeting of the National
Council has been one of steady development for this Society.
The work which it has conducted for many years has been
enlarged to a point never before reached in the Society's his-
tory, and new activities of great concern to our denominational
welfare have been widely promoted. While the Sunday-school
work of the Society is best known, there are now five depart-
ments administered in two main divisions, as follows:

I. Sunday-school planting and promotion, through the Mis-
sionary and Extension, and the Educational departments.

II. Publishing, printing, and selling, through the Editorial,
Publishing, and Business departments.

It is gratifying to report that these activities have been
conducted in a fine spirit of cooperation between the Board
of Directors and heads of departments. New and important
problems have arisen, calling for all the skill and sagacity that
could be commended. In a marked enthusiasm for the work
carried on by the Society, and in fine loyalty to the denomina-
tional interests concerned, the directors have given freely
and unstintedly of their best efforts, not only through monthly
meetings, but by subcommittees which have kept in close and
constant touch with the several departments.

Unlike any other of our home societies, the Congregational
Sunday-School and Publishing Society necessarily conducts
along with its missionary work a business of great extent.
It carries commercial accounts with almost all of our Congre-
gational churches, a great gain having been made in this respect
in recent years. As at present conducted, the Society annually
receives, appropriates, and disburses for the benefit of our
entire denomination a sum in excess of $600,000, and this
money comes for the most part directly from our o\vn churches
and Sunday-schools. The hearty cooperation of the churches,

191S.] CONG. S. S. AND PUBLISHING SOCIETY. 155

far and wide, is an underlying factor in the success of this
Society, and hearty recognition is made of it. The Society
hopes to deserve it in the future as in the past.

Missionary and Extension Department.

For the first time the scope of the Society's missionary work
is now nation-wide. Superintendents have been appointed
for New England, and for New York and Middle States. Im-
migration from Europe, and emigration from the country
districts to the cities is making many needy mission fields in our
older states. At the same time the work has been pushed
vigorously in the newer states, and as ever, on the frontiers.
The churches and Sunday-schools have entrusted to the Society
a larger amount annually during the past three years than ever
before in its history, averaging $70,444,65, and reaching the
sum of $71,729 for 1912-13. We need for pressing calls the
full sum of $100,000 from the churches, as recommended by the
National Council. In addition to this income to the missionary
treasury are gifts from individual donors, and legacies, while
added to all is the yearly grant of $5,000 from the Business
Department profits, which pays substantially all the cost of
administering the Missionary Department, so that every dollar
contributed by churches, schools, and individuals goes directly
to the mission field. The Missionary and Business depart-
ment funds are kept entirely separate. All legacies are care-
fully invested in a legacj^ fund, and the proceeds distributed
over a series of years.

During the past three years the Society has organized 877
schools, reorganized 335, aided 1,959, the total number of
grants being 4,055. Also it has conducted 1,380 institutes, as
compared with 674 the three years previous. This item is a
very marked one. It shows that emphasis is being placed on
educational improvement. Our workers have presented
strongly higher educational ideals. The churches have been
open and desirous of institutes and conferences to help them
realize better things.

It is exceedingly gratifjong to note that 194 churches have
gro'v\Ti from these schools in the past three j^ears. Consider-
ably over 1,000 Congregational churches had their origin in

156 STATEMENT OF THE [1913.

Sunday-schools established by this Society, which indeed
begins at the beginning. Other churches which have been
assisted before or since organization, in the past three years,
number 140. The permanent workers of the Society in this
period averaged 58; temporary workers, 19. At the present
time the Society emploj^s 22 superintendents, 33 missionaries,
four educational secretaries, and one special secretary, Miss
Margaret Slattery. The enthusiasm of this Society in its mis-
sionary work has a twofold basis — it ministers perennially
and unfailingly to our growth as a denomination, and, chiefly,
it is work for children and youth. Transient work in this
field is permanent. Nothing is lost. Where it does no more,
the stream of Christian teaching blesses growing lives wher-
ever it passes. It may often carry life in its early years into
the kingdom of God, for fruitful service.

The Educational Department.

Steady progress has been made in this new department
of the Society. Standards of efficiency for Sunday-schools
have been carefully wrought out, and there is a growing in-
terest, east and west, in the attainment of these standards.
Colleges have in a number of instances been interested by this
department to provide courses helpful to those who might
become teachers of the Bible. Teacher training has been
recognized by this department as one. of the great needs of
the Sunday-school to-day, and much is being done in the crea-
tion of helpful literature to promote this end. Teacher-train-
ing institutes have been held under the auspices of the Society
in many places. It is not too much to say that by means of
the institutes, by publications in the Pilgrim Teacher, and books
by Miss Slattery and others, many Sunday-schools are gaining
a new vision, and great numbers of teachers are beginning to
get help they have long needed. There is still a vast
amount to be done. Our Society is commonly considered
to be a leader in our denomination in the educational propa-
ganda, but we have only made a start. By this time almost
every one who would be intelligent on the Sunday-school
problem knows that it is just as important to have better schools
as to have more schools. Extension work and educational

1913.] CONG. S. S. AND PUBLISHING SOCIETY. 157

propaganda tend to run together. The newest missionary
enterprises are often keen for the highest standards, while
among our leading city churches there is a rapidly increasing
call upon the Society for educational leadership and inspiration.
During the past three years, in fulfillment of its commission
from the National Council of 1907, reinforced in 1910, this
Society has gotten into the life of our Sunday-schools as never
before. The interests of the Educational and Extension
departments being alreadj^ so close, and continually drawing
together, there is no reason why our churches and Sunday-
schools should not contribute to the Society as much for the
newer phase of the work as the older. The Council authorized
such giving three years ago, and we suggest that it do so with
emphasis again.

The Executive Committee of the International Sunday-
School Association has requested that the highest representa-
tive body of each denomination having members upon the
Lesson Committee submit to the Executive Committee names
of persons for the Lesson Committee, and, if it be proper for
this Society to do so, in connection with its particular interest
in our Sunday-school lessons, we suggest that such a nomina-
tion be made by the National Council.

Publication Department.

The Society during the past three years has been publish-
ing the largest number of books of any time in its history.
And the volumes issued have reached a new standard of ex-
cellence. The great increase in the number of manuscripts
submitted admits of a much better choice for publication. At
no time in the history of the Society have the sales of our
own publications been so extensive.

The Graded Lessons for Sunday-schools have put upon
the publishing department a great undertaldng, begun before
the last meeting of the Council, but carried on very exten-
sively in the past three years. The series is not quite com-
plete, yet already the Society publishes 140 text-books in the
graded series. It has invested between $30,000 and $40,000,
and has to carry a very extensive stock on hand. This single
feature of the Publication Department marks an important

158 STATEMENT OF THE [1913.

phase in the financial as well as the educational development
of the Society.

The most notable single publication of the past three years
has been the new Pilgrim Hymnal — not a revision, but a new
volume, making full use of the experience gained by the former
hymnal. The aim has been, by the employment of the best
editorial talent, the fullest criticism, and the finest possible
manufacturing skill, to produce a hymnal which is unequaled.
The hymnal has not been hurried in its production and no
cost has been spared. It would seem, if the experience of
the first few months is significant, as if our churches were
finding the new Pilgrim Hj^mnal to be all that the Society
had hoped and planned for. From the Society's standpoint
its publication is an important event in its history. We sub-
mit it to the churches. It is for them to decide if it be not
also one of the notable publications marking the history of
our denomination.

The Congregationalist " Department.

While the Society publishes many papers and magazines,
The Congregationalist and Christian World is in a depart-
ment of its own. Its importance to the denomination war-
rants this, as well as the magnitude of the enterprise. Since
the last National Council Rev. Dr. A. E. Dunning has retired
from the editorship and head of this department after many
years of distinguished service. Rev. Dr. Howard A. Bridg-
man, long the accomplished managing editor, was promoted
to the vacancy, and during two years past has given ample
evidence that the editorship of the paper remains in able
hands. At a time when the religious newspapers of the coun-
try seem to be meeting with unusual vicissitudes, the Society
is grateful for the splendid constituency of the paper which
does so much to make us a denomination, and hopes to serve
the great cause of the kingdom of God in a manner of in-
creasing power and faithfulness. In three years, this, the oldest
religious paper of our countr5^ will have come to its one hun-
dredth year of publication. For the past twelve years it has
been owned by this Society, conducted as a national paper and
administered by the Society as a high trust for the denomina-

1913.] CONG. S. S. AND PUBLISHING SOCIETY. 159

tion. The Congregalionalist has not been managed as a money-
making enterprise, the general policy of the Society being to
make the best paper possible from the total income received.
From every standpoint it seems to the Society that the paper
might well enter many more of our Congregational families
than it does.

Business Department.

Three good years have followed on in this department
with results of utmost consequence to the work of the Society
in all its departments. Eminent ability and faithfulness has
marked the conduct of its manifold operations. It has been
vitall}'^ concerned in the conduct of every department except
that of missionary and extension. Its net profits for the past
three years have been $92,502.17.

Its appropriations for the past three j^ears to the work of
the denomination have been $45,869.29.

The Printing Plant.

The most notable event in the past three years of the So-
ciety to report to the National Council was the acquirement,
on June 2, 1913, by deed of gift from Mr. Jacob J. Arakelyan,
of the entire plant laiown widely to the trade as the Arakelyan
Press. The Society obligates itself to pay to Mr. Arakelyan
a suitable annuity for a term not to exceed fifteen years. The
plant is valued at approximately $100,000, and eventually it
it is expected to so add to its equipment as to enable the Society
to produce its entire printed product, as well as to do that of the
denomination at large. The possession of this fine plant puts
the Business Department upon a new basis, and will, it is
believed, add materially to the resources of the Society.

160 REPORT OF PROVISIONAL COMMITTEE. [l913.

REPORT OF THE PROVISIONAL COMMITTEE.

The Provisional Committee of the National Council, in
accordance with the requirements of the Constitution of Na-
tional Council, beg leave to present the following report for the
triennium, October 20, 1910, to October 22, 1913.

It is proper to state at the outset that it has not been possible
to hold one meeting at which all the members could be present.
In fact, several members have not been able to come on account
of the distance and great expense involved. This suggests the
desirability of appointing persons to the Provisional Committee
who, living near the ordinary place of meeting, could find it
convenient to come, and so at no very great expense to the
treasury of National Council. The suggestion is recommended
to the respectful consideration of the Nominating Committee.
A nation-wide representation is desirable, but a nation-wide
membership does not make for either interest or efficiency.

We were greatly grieved at receiving the sad news of the death
of one of our members, on March 7, 1912, — Rev. Alexander
Lewis, D.D., the beloved pastor of the First Church, Kansas
City. Though the effect of this was profoundly depressing and
disheartening to those who were associated with him in carrying
out the purpose of the meeting ojf National Council in Kansas
City, his place was filled by the accession of Rev. Frank G.
Smith, pastor of the inviting church, whose efficient aid has
been of substantial help to the committee.

First Meeting, October 20, 1910.
It was voted: That the national societies be invited to meet
with National Council at Kansas City, 1913; that the Secretary
be empowered to give credentials to delegates to foreign bodies ;
that the salary of the Secretary be as before, $3,000; that the
salary of the Treasurer be as before, $300; that an amount not
exceeding $300 be appropriated for rent of office in Congrega-
tional House; that the compensation for clerk be $50 monthly
and every month; that the telephone service be continued in
office of Secretary as during the past year.

1913.

REPORT OF PROVISIONAL COMMITTEE.

161

The following were appointed members of the Committee on
Program: Rev. Harry P. Dewey, Rev. Alexander Lewis, Rev.
Nehemiah Boynton, Frank Gaylord Cook, Esq., Rev. Asher
Anderson.

Second Meeting, Boston, November 11, 1910.

It was voted: That date of ordination be retained in Year-
Book; that the form of schedule for upper and lower pages of
Year-Book as presented by Secretary, together with question
blanks for local church reports, be approved ; that an additional
column be provided for reporting " men's organizations. "

Third Meeting, January 23, 1911, Brooklyn, N. Y.
It was voted: That the resignation of Mr. Lewis A. Crossett,
member of Committee on Congregational Brotherhood, be ac-
cepted and that the vacancy be refierred to the Executive Com-
mittee of the Congregational Brotherhood with power; that the
Secretary be empowered to employ additional clerk service if
necessary, at an expense not to exceed $100; that the Cumber-
land Plateau Association of Tennessee, and the recently organ-
ized Association of Churches in North Carolina (Anglo-Saxon)
be published in groups respectively, in the schedules of the
forthcoming Year-Book; that the Secretary be instructed to
appeal as before to the churches for the Federal Council Appor-
tionment, in amounts ranging from five to twenty-five dollars,
according to the membership of the churches, and the receipts
be remitted to the Treasurer of the National Council; that the
Provisional Committee of the National Council at its meeting,
Brooklyn, January 23, 1911, find the financial situation to be as
follows:

Estimated Receipts
From churches at 3c.,
Advertisement and in-
terest,
Year-Book sales,
General sales,
Rebate in rent,

)tS.

Estimated Expenses.

$16,650.00

Salary of Secretary,

$3,000.00

Salary of Clerk,

600.00

1,000.00

Office rent,

273.96

100.00

Telephone,

36.00

75.00

Office supplies.

200.00

60 00

Council Minutes,

3,760.00

Year-Book,

7,750.00

Registrar and Treasurer, 325.00

Balance,

1,940.04

$17,885.00

$17,885.00

162 REPORT OF PROVISIONAL COMMITTEE. [l913.

That on the basis of this statement we record our judgment that
the Provisional Committee of National Council is not warranted
in assuming responsibility in calling upon the churches for funds
for the years 1912-1913, aggregating more than the three cents
per member, per annum, which was voted by the National
Council for the year 1911; and we do not regard ourselves as
justified in incurring an indebtedness beyond the total receipts
of the Treasurer, and that, therefore, we respectfully urge the
commissions and committees of National Council to confer with
the officials of the Provisional Committee before incurring ex-
penses which it is expected the Provisional Committee will
honor; that the thanks of the Provisional Committee be ex-
tended to Pev. Dr. Boynton for the use of his study for the meet-
ing and for the courtesy of the lunch at the noon hour at the
University Club.

Fourth Meeting, October 24, 1911, Boston, Mass.
It was voted: That Rev. Harry P. Dewey be requested to
withdraw his resigTiation and continue with the committee.
It was voted: That the Rev. W. W. Ranney, Colorado, be elected
to the Committee on Federal Council, Rev. A. H. Jordan having
resigned ; that bill of expense of Rev. S. P. Cadman, delegate to
Ecumenical Congress, Montreal, be paid; that the following per-
sons be elected delegates' alternates to the Federal Council of the
Churches of Christ in America: Rev. E. B. Allen, Rev. W. E.
Barton, Rev. Charles H. Beale, Rev. E. W. Bishop, Rev. Dan
F. Bradley, Rev. Nelson F. Bradley, Rev. Charles E. Burton,
President Ozora S. Davis, President Edward D. Eaton, David
Fales, Jr., Esq.; Rev. Edwin N. Hardy, Rev. Ira J. Houston,
Rev. E. Lee Howard, Rev. Frederick T. Rouse, Dr. George M.
Royal, Rev. W. W. Willard, Rev. J. S. Williamson, Rev.
Howard A. Bridgman, Rev. Dwight M. Pratt.

Fifth Meeting, November 29, 1911, Boston, Mass.
It was voted: That the date of National Council be Wednes-
day, October 22, 1913, and that the same be announced in the
columns of The Congregationalist, the Advance, and the Pacific,
and a copy of the same be sent to Rev. Alexander Lewis, Kansas
City. The following announcement appeared:

1913.] REPORT OF PROVISIONAL COMMITTEE. 163

The National Council, at its last meeting, in Boston, voted, — " That
the Provisional Committee be instructed to call the Triennial Session of
the Council of 1913 in the spring or early summer of that year."

The Provisional Committee, in attempting to comply with the above
vote, has been confronted with the followng facts:

First, it is the earnest desire of the church in Kansas City that the
Council of 1913 which it is to entertain should be fully representative of
our denominational strength; and it is the more fitting that this desire be
respected because the last meeting of the Council at first assigned to
Kansas City was yielded to Boston, with true courtesy, and in spite of
disappointment.

Second, such a representative gathering can be secured only through
a joint meeting of aU our national societies, such as occurred in Boston in
1910; and it is especially desirable because it must consider the report of
the Commission of Nineteen, and other extraordinary business.

Third, at least two of our national societies, the American Board and
the American Missionary Association, are prevented, for legal and other
reasons, from holding their annual meetings in May, and only the annual
meetings of those societies can secure their fuU representation.

Wherefore, the Provisional Committee, in the discretion vested in it by
the by-laws of National Council, hereby announces that the next meeting
of National Council will be held at Kansas City, beginning Wednesday
afternoon, October 22, 1913.

The Provisional Committee.
By Frank Gaylord Cook, Chairman.

It ivas voted: That Rev. H. A. Bridgman and Rev. Dwight M.
Pratt be elected to fill vacancies of delegates to the Federal
Council, Chicago, 1912; that the Secretary advise the Young
Women's Christian Association, New York, that they may
be advertised in Year-Book, 1912, at $30 per page; that $25
be appropriated to cover expenses for moving office of Sec-
retary in Congregational House; to accept the resignation of
Rev. Howard A. Bridgman, member of Publishing Committee;
to elect Mr. Thomas Weston, Jr., to fill vacancy; that the bills
of the Commission of Nineteen, amounting to $442.23, be
approved, and that the same be paid; that the chairman be
authorized to approve bills of the Commission of Nineteen for
printing and distributing the report of the commission to an
amount not exceeding $500 when funds are available.

Sixth Meeting, September 24, 1912, Boston, Mass.

It was voted: That the Secretary be empowered to prepare

sheets for Treasurer's reports of amounts received from the

164 REPORT OF PROVISIONAL COMMITTEE. [l913.

churches to be pubHshed in the Year-Book; that the clerk be
compensated at the rate of fifteen dollars weekly and every
week; that the Secretary be instructed to communicate to the
chairmen of National Council committees as before, upon the
expenses of committees in preparing their reports for National
Council; that the communication from Professor Adams,
Hanover, N. H., requesting that the constitution of voting mem-
bership in the National Societies be printed in the Year-Book,
be referred to the Publishing Committee ; that the Secretary be
authorized to meet such committees at Kansas City as may be
necessary to arrange for the coming of the National Council, in
1913; that in answer to a communication from J. and R. Lamb,
concerning a new cover design for the Year-Book, they be re-
quested to submit to the Provisional Committee a design for
consideration; that in reply to a communication from the
Derry-Hollis Association, New Hampshire, requesting the
necrology of Rev. Mr. Watson be printed in the Year-Book,
inasmuch as Mr. Watson was not a Congregational minister
at the time of his decease, the necrology be not published in the
Congregational Year-Book; that certificates of delegation fur-
nished by the Secretary and sigTied by the chairman, to Rev.
J. L. Kirbye, Rev. Nicholas Van der Pyl, and Rev. S. Parkes
Cadman, be approved; that in answer to a communication of
State Secretary Ireland, New York, requesting that the officers
and organizations of the New York Board of Ministerial Relief
be printed in the Year-Book, the same be referred to the
Congregational Board of Ministerial Relief; in answer to a
communication from the Executive Committee of the Appor-
tionment Commission in which it was requested that all ques-
tions asked in the blank sent to churches which refer to the
national societies, and the amounts given by the churches to the
treasurers of the societies respectively, be omitted, and that the
only questions asked of the churches be those referring to
" other Congregational oft"erings " and " undenominational
gifts," that the matter be referred to the National Council
for adjudication.

Seventh Meeting, January 8, 1913, Boston, Mass.

It was voted: Upon the Secretary announcing the decease of

Rev. Alexander Lewis, pastor of inviting church, Kansas City,

1913.] REPORT OF PROVISIONAL COMMITTEE. 165

Rev. Frank G. Smith, recently elected pastor, was elected to fill
vacancy ; upon announcement by the Secretary of the deaths of
Rev. J. W. Bradshaw and President Alfred T. Perry, members of
the Committee on Comity, Federation, and Unity, that the
Secretary advise the chairman of the 'committee. Rev. William
Hayes Ward, suggesting that said vacancies be filled after the
usual manner; that in reply to a communication from Rev. H. E.
Swartz, New York, in which the Program Committee was noti-
fied that a secretarial conference desired to correspond with the
Program Committee to the end that any duplication of themes
be avoided in program of National Council, the Secretary
be instructed to reply to Mr. Swartz. The following reply was
sent:

Rev. H. S. Swartz, New York, N. Y.

Dear Mr. Swartz, — Replying to your communication dated December
19, 1912, respecting the action of a secretarial conference appointing a
committee of which j^ou are chairman, and which committee has through
you notified the Program Committee that it is the desire of the conference
that duphcation of themes in National Council program be avoided, I
am pleased to write that the Program Committee have reported to the
Provisional Committee, and the Provisional Committee has accepted and
approved the same.

Very truly yours,

AsHER Anderson.

That the report of the Program Committee outlining the pro-
gram of National Council for its fifteenth triennial session be
accepted, and adopted.

Frank Gaylord Cook, Chairman.

Rev. Nehemiah Boynton.

Rev. Elmer W. Butler.

Rev. Harry P. Dewey.

Rev. Samuel I. Hanford.

Rev. Frank G. Smith.

Galen C. Moses.

Pres. Henry E. Thayer.

Rev. N. McGee Waters.

Rev. AsHER Anderson.

Rev. Joel S. Ives.

166 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. Il913.

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY.

Evolution applies to Year-Books as to other things. The
book of to-day is a great advance upon the volume, still extant,
which appeared in the year 1854. So far as we can learn, the
first American publication of a character of a Congregational
Year-Book was edited and sent out by Dr. Dorus Clark, in 1846,
and this was followed by something a trifle more elaborate in the
same line, by Dr. Parsons Cooke, in 1847. We do not know that
either copy of these early publications may be found.

In 1854, the American Congregational Union, New York, and
the Congregational Library Association, Boston, issued a Year-
Book under the editorship of Rev. T. Atkinson, a worthy pastor
of a church in Brooklyn, N. Y. The preface informs us that the
desire obtains " to issue tables so accurate and complete that
it would be no longer impossible to walk about Zion — to tell
the towers thereof — to mark well her bulwarks ■ — to consider
her palaces — and to tell the generations following." It is
very much more than a Year-Book containing only statistics of
churches. We find in it extensive astronomical calculations
for the year; a complete calendar, with observations and notes
for no less than sixteen places of the United States; reports of
state associations, in full; a report of the Congregational con-
vention held at Albany, N. Y., in 1852; reports of five Congre-
gational societies, viz., the American Congregational Union,
Congregational Library Association, Congregational Board of
Publication, Massachusetts Sabbath School Society, and Ameri-
can Education Society. In addition, reports are given of so-
cieties which are called " cooperative; and they are these:
American Bible Society, American Board of Commissioners for
Foreign Missons, Home Missionary Society, American Tract
Society, American Sunday-School Union, American and Foreign
Christian Union, Society for the Promotion of Collegiate
and Theologial Education at the West, American Missionary
Association, American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, Ameri-
can Colonization Society, American Temperance Union, Ameri-

1913.] REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 167

can Seaman's Friend Society, and American Society for Amelio-
rating the Condition of the Jews. Tlie classification, certainly,
is interesting. We need not wonder to-day at the bulk of
undenominational giving. Surely the interests of Congrega-
tionalists then were fully as diverse as thej^ are at the present.
Succeeding volumes, however, indicate a tendency to become
exclusively Congregational in reporting the statistics of churches
and ministers. In 1855, biographical notices appear. The
almanac is retained, with the addition of appropriate scriptural
and other quotations at the head of each month in the calendar.
We note with interest that the editor regrets that its appearance
is two months later than he intended. With the volume of 1856
the almanac disappears. Histories of certain churches and
theological seminaries are published. It is in this volume that
Dr. Bacon's article is printed in which that doughty New Eng-
land minister seeks to show in his review of " Hodge on Presby-
terianism " that the Presbyterian scheme in its distinctive
features is entirely without warrant from the Scriptures.

In the volumes of 1857, 1858, and 1859, little or nothing is
added as features except a revival record, which ministers are
earnestly exhorted to read.

And now, in January, 1859, appears the first number of the
Congregational Quarterly. " Before the second number was
issued the American Congregational Union at New York, by
the consent of all parties, was admitted into co-partnership on
equal terms with the Congregational Library Association, and
their secretary was added to the publishing and editorial force.
This was done with the express understanding that the Year-
Book hitherto published by that body be henceforth discontin-
ued, and the Quarterly hereafter be the repository of our " ec-
clesiastical statistics."

The Quarterly was edited by Revs. Joseph F. Clark, D.D.,
Henry M. Dexter, Alonzo H. Quint, and Isaac T. Langworthy.
The Quarterly was supported by subscriptions. An announce-
ment was made that the success of the Quarterly was such as to
make it certain that it met a felt want and would be perma-
nently sustained by the denomination (sic) to whose interests it
is especially devoted. Tables of contents indicated the scope of
the service the Quarterly rendered, in biographical notes and

168 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. [l913.

sketches, reviews of books, papers, and addresses, and many
articles of real historical value.*

The last volume of the Quarterly is dated October, 1878.
There is a reason why the closing words of that volume are these:
" To the subscribers, therefore, the editor and proprietor of the
Quarterly bids for the present an affectionate adieu."

It seems, and we quote the proprietor of the Quarterly himself,
" that the National Council in the fall of 1877, without so much
as an allusion to the Quarterly or a recognition in any form of the
fact that it had furnished the statistics of the churches for nearly
twenty years, instituted a new system, by which such statistics
should be provided, taxing the churches to pay the expense.
Having been notified that the Council was to publish the sta-
tistics in connection with the Minutes of its session in Detroit,
and distribute the copies among the churches, the proprietor of
the Quarterly was allowed the free use of the type of said statis-
tics in printing his number for January, 1878. Through a notice
given to the public, he learned that a Year-Book is to be pub-
lished under the direction of the Council, and this led to the
announcement made in the July number as to the future of the
Quarterly."

Turning to the July number we read, " The action of the
Council of the committee renders it impracticable to continue
the Quarterly in its present form, and necessitates its sale."
And that was the end, forever, of the Congregational
Quarterh^

While it may have been wise on the part of National Council
to prepare and provide gratuitously for churches and ministers
the statistics of the churches, it cannot but be believed that the
continuance of the Quarterly under such able editorial manage-
ment would have availed to a large interest and growing pur-
pose in the general fellowship.

The first issue of the Congregational Year-Book, under the
sanction of the National Council, according to the action of the
Council at its session in Detroit, 1877, appears in the year 1879,
and is published by the Congregational Publishing Society,
printed by Alfred Mudge & Son, under the direction of a pub-
lishing committee. Noticeable features are these: A Congre-

* A card index of these twenty volumea has been prepared, and furnishes an easy
refe*ence to every article of importance.

1913. J REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 169

gational calendar, with its historical references, headed by
Scripture quotations, excerpts from articles and addresses all
more or less quaint to us at this day; church architecture with
illustrations; and forms for Congregational use. The work of
securing and compiling statistical and other material for the
Year-Book devolved upon Rev. Alonzo H. Quint, who was
secretary of the National Council, remaining such until 1883,
when he was succeeded by Rev. H. A. Hazen, who passed
away August 4, 1900, a little over two months after the publi-
cation of the Year-Book 1900.

Succeeding Dr. Hazen, by vote of the Provisional Conm^iittee,
November, 1900, the present editor began at once to add such
features in summarization and other respects as would make
the volume of still greater value to our ministers and churches.
A comparison of the Year-Book 1900 with the Year-Book 1913
will indicate the changes and additions, and also, we think,
improvements which have been effected. The fifth-year sta-
tistics, the publication of which made the volume a large one,
thus doubling almost the expense in distribution, was by a
careful arrangement of the columns in the schedules of the
churches included in the pages of the regular church statistics.
In the Year-Book 1900 will be found seven tables of smmiiaries;
in the Year-Book 1913, we find fourteen tables. Through these
additional summaries the editor has sought to illustrate the
material and spiritual worth of our church life and work. By
these summaries we learn how our churches are growing in one
section as compared with another; what work is being done
among peoples of tongues other than our owti; the giving and
financial ability of our churches, and their material condition as
well ; the numerical strength of the churches in graded member-
ships; and the spiritual power of the churches, as indicated by
accessions upon confession of faith. As has been frequently
said, the Year-Book is the manual of the churches. It deserves
the close attention of such as would be informed upon our
missionary and other activities, while its figures properly studied
and used become a source of inspiration to the fellowship.

Since much criticism is made because the Year-Book is not
issued at an earlier date, the editor would respectfully submit
that the National Council may consider to suggest some method
by which an earlier issue might be effected.

170

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY.

[1913.

In accordance Avith the requirements of National Council
we are pleased to submit the following summaries for the past
three years:

TOTALS AND SUMMARIES FOR YEARS 1910, 1911, 1912.

Table I.

United States,

Hawaii,

Porto Rico,

Indep't and Miss'y S. S.,

Totals.

Churches.

1910.

1911.

1912.

United States,

5,922

5,936

5,950

Hawaii,

102

102

103

Porto Rico,

9

10

11

Indep't and Miss'y- S. S.,

6,033

6,048

Members.

6,064

1910.

1911.

1912.

726,732

8,281

550

729,801

8,394
546

733,760

8,672

594

735,563

738,741

743,026

United States,

Hawaii,

Porto Rico,

Indep't and Miss'y S. S.

Sunday-School Members.

1910. 1911. 1912.

655,087 664,629 665,169

9,413 9,048 9,690

473 791 818

47,608 41,301 41,553

712,581

' 715,769

717,230

United States,
Hawaii,
Porto Rico,

Indep't and Miss'y S. S.,

Young People's Societies.

1910. 1911. 1912.

128,918 123,939 121,434

3,600 3,997 3,132

16 88

132,518

127,952

124,654

United States,

Hawaii,

Porto Rico,

Indep't and Miss'y S. S.,

Benevolence to Societies.
1910. 1911. 1912.

L,228,338 $1,244,544 $1,210,998
41,071 8,728 6,522
100

1,269,409 $1,2.53,372 $1,217,520

1913.1

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY.

Grand Total of Benevolence.

171

1910.

1911.

1912.

United States,

Hawaii,

Porto Rico,

Indep't and Miss'y S.

S.,

$2,780,466
80,il6

$2,402,757

51,471

112

$2,297,159

66,237

188

$2,860,582

$2,454,340

$2,363,584

1910.

Expenditures.
1911.

1912.

United States,

Hawaii,

Porto Rico,

Indep't and Miss'y S.

S.,

$8,892,639
73,255

$9,230,270

125,690

162

.$9,238,333
68,437

848

$8,965,894

$9,356,122

$9,307,618

Table II.

CHtTRCHES AND MEMBERS.

States.

Churches.

Gain in
3 years.

Loss in
3 years.

New England (6),
North East (10),
North West (8),
Pacific (13),
Southern (15),

1,635

1,687

1,499

698

545

6
14
78
69
36

203

10
38
31
21
30

6,064

130

Net gain

73

States.

Members.

Gain in
3 year.s.

Loss in
3 years.

New England (6),
North East (10),
North West (8),
Pacific (13),
Southern (15),

266,374

249,932

129,872

62,443

34,405

743,026

3,270
1,959
1,909
7,436
1,925

16,499

532

1,086

2,074

69

511

4,272

Net gain

12,227

Table III.

Membership.

States.

Total added
in 3 years.

Added on
Confession.

Deaths.

Baptisms.

New England (6),
North East (10),
North West (8)
Pacific (13),
Southern (15),

41,032
57,716
38,138
26,124
10,008

173,018

23,348
31,235
20,017
11,240

5,837

12,952
8,710
3,643
1,625
1,149

28,079

24,746

26,564

17,120

8,560

5,786

91,677

82,776

172

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY.

[1913.

Table IV.

Sunday-School Members.

States.

Gain in
Total, 1912. 3 years.

Loss in
3 years. :

Independent
ind Miss. S.S.

New England (6),
North East (10),
North West (8),
Pacific (13),
Southern (15),

236,864

218,531

124,291

64,550 6,283
31,441 1,271

675,677 7,554

11,942

15,778
564

(5) 1,758

(7) 7,565

(8) 17,396
(12) 11,758

(9) 3,076

28,284

41,553

Decrease of ... .

20,730

Table V.

Young People's Societies

States.

Total in
,1912.

Gain in
3 years.

Loss in
3 years.

New England (6),
North East (10),
North West (8),
Pacific (13),
Southern (15),

48,530
33,531
22,205
13,476
6,912

124,654

1,225

7,522

10,009

5,432

873

1,225

23,836

Decrease of . . . .

22,611

Table VI.

Benevolence.

States.

Total for Increase for
3 years. 3 years.

Decrease for
3 years.

New England (6),
North East (10),
North West (8),
Pacific (13),
Southern (15),

$3,146,444

2,229,463

1,125,181

914,365

263,043

$7,678,496

$

19,190
$19,190

$263,810

57,955

117,466

29,637

$468,868

Decrease of . . .

$449,678

Table VII.

Expenditures.

States.

Total for Increase for
3 years. 3 years.

Decrease for
3 years.

New England (6),
North East (10),
North West (8),
Pacific (13),
Southern (15),

$10,557,469 $131,942
9,002,288
4,604,730

2,719,656 184,769
745,491 31,913

$27,629,634 $348,624

$
92,804
55,721

$148,525

Increase of

1

;200,099

Respectfully submitted,

AsHER Anderson.

1913.] REPORT OF PUBLISHING COMMITTEE. 173

REPORT OF PUBLISHING COMMITTEE.

To National Council of Congregational Churches:

Fathers and Brethren, — The Publishing Committee have
sought to fulfill whatever duties devolved upon them in the
issuance of Year-Books and Proceedings of National Council,
1910, under the editorship of the Secretary of National Council.

The demand for space, as organizations and societies desired
to be represented in membership and gifts, has added no little
burden to the work of the committee. Doubtless not a few
have noticed some of the changes which have been made in the
state schedules. In order to provide room for reports as re-
quested, it was found necessary to omit the names of churches in
the lower schedule and insert figures corresponding to those given
at churches in the upper schedule. By this method we have been
able to report, each in its column, — men's organizations, gifts
to treasurers of societies under the Apportionment Plan, denomi-
national and undenominational charities, and, in addition, the
names of the treasurers of our churches.

Your committee v/as pleased to accede to the request of
Talladega Theological Seminary that a page be given it with
other of our theological institutions.

In accordance with provisions made by National Council,
your conunittee considered estimates for printing and publishing
the Year-Books of the years 1912, 1913, and 1914, and also the
Minutes of the National Council, 1910, and awarded the same
to Samuel Usher, of Fort Hill Press, Boston, Mass. The
committee beg leave to express their appreciation of the pains-
taking efforts of the printer in carrying forward the work in so
successful and acceptable manner.

It was with great regret that one of the members of your
committee appointed by National Council, Rev. Howard A.
Bridgman, resigned from the committee. His resignation was
most reluctantly accepted, and Thomas Weston, Jr., Esq., was
elected to fill his place.

174 REPORT OF PUBLISHING COMMITTEE. [l913.

As in previous years, the distribution of the Year-Book among
the churches and ministers has been committed to Adams
Express Company. We are pleased to say that Mr. Avery, the
agent to whose hand this work was especially committed, ful-
filled liis part in a spirit altogether faithful and commendable.

Your committee having received estimates upon request, for
printing and publishing the forthcoming volume of the Pro-
ceedings of this session of National Council, it was voted that the
contract be awarded to Samuel Usher, of Fort Hill Press.

In view of the retirement of Miss Claire Millner, it is proper
that the Publishing Committee place on record their sincere
appreciation of the efficient service she has rendered so faithfully
in the compilation of the Year-Book, as assistant to the editor.

Your committee respectfully recommend that authority be
given to the Publishing Committee appointed at this session of
the National Council to contract for printing and publishing
the Year-Books of 1915, 1916, and 1917, and also the volume of
the Minutes of the next session of National Council, and that
said committee be requested to procure sealed competitive bids
for such work.

(Signed) Thomas Todd, Chairman.
Phineas Hubbard.
Thomas Weston, Jr.
Joel S. Ives.
Asher Anderson.

1913.] REPORT OF THE TREASURER. 175

REPORT OF JOEL S. IVES, TREASURER OF THE
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF THE CONGREGATIONAL
CHURCHES OF THE UNITED STATES, AUGUST 1,
1910, TO AUGUST 31, 1913.*

Receipts.

Balance July 31, 1910 $7,157.06

Advertising $2,150.50

Security Fund interest 370.00

Interest on dail}' balances 361.05

Rebate on office rental 168.24

Sale of Year-Books 338.96

Federal Council 1,468.05

State dues 51,801.39 56,658.19

$63,815.25
Disbursements .
Account of Secretary:

Salary $9,250.00

Clerk 2,098.11

Rent and care of office 905.07

Expenses, postage, etc 612.88

Mileage 219.70 $13,085.76

Account of Registrar and Treasurer:

Salary $900.00

Expenses, postage, etc 48.21

Mileage 125.75 1,073.96

Federal Council 1,949.90

Religious Education Committee $5.00

Industrial Committee 143.05

Benevolent Societies 43.50

Committee on Church Property 11.00

Committee of Twenty-five 3.50

Committee on Comity 22.75

Apportionment Committee 53.26 282.06

* The above report covers a period of three years and one month.

176 REPORT OF THE TREASURER. [1913.

Commission of Nineteen $3,156.60

Delegate to Toronto 35.00

Printing, Thomas Todd Company $165.30

Fort Hill Press 974.13 1,139.43

Boston Meeting $152.85

Minutes 3,792.39 3,945.24

Year-Book Account, printing $26,932.05

Express and postage 4,675.11 31,607.16

Registration fee $1.00

Seal 3.00

Premium on bond 25.00 29.00

$56,304.11

Balance, August 31, 1913 7,511.14

,815.25

It was voted, — " That the churches be requested to contribute
at the rate of three cents per member." — • Minutes of National
Council, Boston, Mass., October 10-20, 1910.

Auditor's Report.

I hereby certify that I have examined the books and ac-
counts of Joel S. Ives, Treasurer of the National Council of
the Congregational Churches of the United States, and have
found the same to be correct, showing a balance in the treas-
ury, August 31, 1913, of seven thousand five hundred and
eleven dollars and fourteen cents ($7,511.14).

David N. Camp, Auditor.
Hartford, Conn., September 18, 1913.

1913.1 REPORT ON MINISTERIAL RELIEF. 177

REPORT OF THE CONGREGATIONAL BOARD OF
MINISTERIAL RELIEF.

To THE National Council of the Congregational Churches
OF the United States:

Brethren, — The three-year period which closed with July 31,
1913, and which this report covers, has been largely devoted to
four Hnes of service.

First, To secure funds to supply the ever-increasing needs of
the aged ministers and widows of ministers as presented to the
Board.

Second, To increase the Endowment Fund; that the in-
sufficient gifts of individuals and churches may be more largely
supplemented by income from investments.

Third, To minister to the body of self-respecting pensioners,
with affection and for their honor, not patronizingly nor with
suggestion of charity.

Fourth, To devise a plan for armuities at the period of retire-
ment from active service for all ministers willing to participate
in the effort.

This last item is one of such vital importance that the Board
will present through its special committee a separate report,
at a session of this Council which has been assigned to it. The
question of ministerial amiuities is receiving the careful con-
sideration of many of the denominations. ^Vhile a plan for
annuities may eventually modify the demands upon the Board
of Relief, it can never make its work umiecessary. Any plan
for annuities giving promise of success wll require the participa-
tion of those who are to share in its benefits. There will always
be ministers whose incomes are so small that they carmot pay
their proportion in purchasing the annuity. They must, there-
fore, look to the Board of ReUef for such assistance as they may
need.

We are anxious that this Council should recommend a plan
that will secure the interest and cooperation of all our churches

178 REPORT ON MINISTERIAL RELIEF. [1913.

and ministers. The Board therefore asks, for the report to
be presented, your attendance and serious consideration.

I. Most diligent efforts have been made to secure funds to
meet the pressing needs of the veterans during the past three
years. Not only were new applications for pensions to be met,
but the Board earnestly desired to provide more generously
for those already on the roll. The response to these efforts
has been gratifying. The receipts from all sources were $203,-
943.30. They exceeded those of the prior three years by $95,-
848.59.

We are able to show this fine advance in receipts, in part,
because of a gift of $50,000, in January, 1912, from a friend in
New York City, who attached but the one condition that the
name of the donor should not be made public. For several
years this friend of the veterans had been a regular contributor
to the Board and had been kept informed of its work and needs.
This is the largest gift from a living hand the Board has ever
received. Only once was the amount exceeded from any source,
and that was from the Ford Legacy, which added about $55,000
to the receipts of the Board. The Board desires in this pubhc
manner to express its grateful appreciation to the giver of this
large sum. The name of the donor is known to only one mem-
ber of the Board, who has held that secret inviolate, but it is
a pleasure to all the members to know that such a generous
friend still lives to enjoy the reflection that the income of that
benefaction is every year bringing good cheer and practical
help to the march-worn and battle-scarred soldiers of the holy
war. It can but hope that this example may become conta-
gious, and that it will not be twenty-seven years more before
others shall follow with a gift of fifty thousand dollars or more.
There is opportunity in this too long neglected field of benevo-
lence for princely gifts. Who could estimate the far-reaching
effect in bringing comfort to the aged, the widows, and the
orphans, in putting heart into the devoted ministers of Christ
receiving a salary which provides no margin for saving, in
stimulating the devotion and self-abnegation of the young
Christian about to choose his hfe work, that a gift of a miUion
dollars, or many gifts of fifty or a hundred thousand dollars,
for Ministerial Relief, would afford? The time has arrived for
larger gifts and for a larger number of givers. This schedule

1913.] REPORT ON MINISTERIAL RELIEF. 179

meets the scriptural rule " concerning the collection for the
saints," " let each one of you " and " as he may prosper."

It should be observed that the receipts for the three years,
without this gift of $50,000 and its income, show an advance,
as compared with the former period, of about $43,000. This
reveals increasing interest and a larger sense of obligation on
the part of our churches. The State Woman's Home Mission-
ary Unions, as expressed through the Woman's Home Mission-
ary Federation, and the Sunday-schools, have especially shown
increasing interest and gifts. There are evidences also that the
Young People's Societies are beginning to realize the privilege
of helping in this work.

We conclude, from the many letters which have come to the
Board, that there is a general feeling that the Apportiomnent
Assignment of 2 per cent, or $40,000 a year, for both the National
and State Societies, is inadequate. Yet it should not be for-
gotten that while the National and State Societies received in
the calendar year of 1912 the largest gross receipts in their
history, \dz., $153,579.30, only $34,424 of this amount could be
credited under the apportiomnent. There is still room to grow
under the forty thousand dollars assignment. Doubtless,
however, if the percentage were higher, the rate of receipts to
that percentage would be higher. The need is vastly beyond
the present percentage and assignment.

The Board is glad to report in this comiection an adjustment
of its relations with most of the State Societies and that there
exists a spirit of hearty cooperation. The basis of adjustment
varies in the different states, according to their special condi-
tions. Even in those states with which a written contract has
not been made, the work is carried forward harmoniously and
plans are already under consideration for closer relations. We
have all come to regard the work of ministerial relief as one
cause, whether conducted along state or national lines.

II. Turning now to the EndowTnent Fund.

The Board is glad to report that since the last Council an
amendment to its charter has been secured from the legislature
of Connecticut, authorizing it to hold endowments up to
$3,000,000, instead of $1,000,000 as at the present time.

The fund now stands at $286,856.17. It is interesting to
note that each triennial period has shown a substantial advance

180 REPORT ON MINISTERIAL RELIEF. [1913.

in the endowment. At the close of the first period it was
$10,161.50. Then it advanced by each period as follows, men-
tioning only round numbers, to $25,000, $80,000, $109,000,
$124,000, $134,000, $162,000, $199,000, $287,000. This en-
dowment, however, is not all that our denomination holds for
ministerial relief. With that of the state societies we have about
$650,000. Still this sum seems pitiably small when com-
pared with the more than two and one-half million dollars held
by the Presbyterians, and like amounts by the Episcopalians
and the Methodists. The standing of the Congregational
Church as to period of existence, as to the equipment of its
membership and constituency, as to the qualification and
efficiency of its ministry, appeals for an advance to meet this
righteous obligation and render this service.

III. As to pensioners, the number and the amomit paid them
are the largest in the history of the Board. There have been
233, to whom was paid $80,257.89, which is $29,077.17 more
than for the former three years. In the matter of payments
to pensioners, the triennial periods show a steady advance.
In the first period, 6 pensioners received $850; in the second,
12, $1,919; in the third, 31, $5,331.42; in the fourth, 61, $10,-
466.07; in the fifth, 89, $17,418.87; in the sixth, 98, $25,473.55;
in the seventh, 121, $29,969.84; in the eighth, 191, $51,180.72;
in the ninth, 233, $80,257.89. Nearly $20,000 more was paid
to the pensioners the last three years than for the entire first
eighteen years of the fund. In the last three years almost as
much was paid to pensioners as in the preceding six years. For
the entire twenty-seven years the pensioners have been about
equally divided between men and women.

The question has been raised by some, as to why the payments
of this Board to aged ministers are called pensions. A pension
is a payment made, not as a charity, but as an obligation. We
contend that most if not all of the veterans who are ministered
to by the Board were never given an equivalent compensation
for the work they rendered our churches and that, therefore,
the churches are still indebted to them. The only way to esti-
mate this debt is to take into account the period of their service.
This the Board does and assumes that a fair and just view is
that the aged minister should receive an annual pension equal
to $10 a year for each year he has served Congregational

1913.] REPORT ON MINISTERIAL RELIEF. 181

churches. We have learned from experience that the receipts
of the Board will not justify the inclusion of more than thirty
years of service. We are striving to increase its income so that
the thirty-j'^ear limit can be removed. A maximum pension of
S300 a year is too small. If a minister was in the active minis-
try forty years, for example, his pension should be $400. But
the minister who has served only twenty years does not have as
strong a claim under the pension for service principle of the
Board as the one who has served thirty years. There are, how-
ever, unusual cases of distressing need among those whose
service has been comparatively brief, which may justify excep-
tion to the general rule. The constant aim of the Board is to
eliminate ' all conditions and language which suggest charity
or alms or which might appear humiliating or embarrassing
to these worthy men and women.

The direct questions which an applicant for a pension is
required to answer once only in the first papers which he files
\^^th the Board, and which are sometimes criticised, as on the
floor of the last Council, where they were spoken of "as turning
one's self inside out," are not nearly so embarrassing as this
language would indicate. Their object is only to protect the
funds provided for a specific purpose by the churches and com-
mitted in trust to the administration of this Board. These
questions are equally necessary to protect those who are en-
titled to the pension. It is worthy of remark that this criticism
comes from those who are not applicants for pensions and
probably never expect to be, and not from those who are about
to make application. These seem to recognize at the moment
the necessity for exactness in revealing their true situation.
As one of our pensioners recently wrote, " I cannot make you
understand what the restful assurance of this regular and prompt
provision for our needs means to us. When it was first sug-
gested that I apply for a pension I thought I could not do it,
but it was the beginning of a most blessed experience of the love
and care of the Father and his children."

In the three years, 37 pensioners have died, of whom 26
were men and 11 women. The oldest was ninety-nine, the
youngest, twenty-six, and their average age was seventy-five.
The average of the women was seventy-six and the men, seventy-
four. There were in this list of veterans some of the noblest

182 REPORT ON MINISTERIAL RELIEF. [1913.

and ablest of our ministers, as judged from the record of their
services. They included home and foreign missionaries, and
theological seminary professors, and at least one of them was
noted for his attainments in astronomy. They had all suc-
ceeded in their chosen work for life, but had not been able to
provide adequately for the time of infirmity and old age. The
spiritual life of the denomination can but be enriched by the
services of such faithful disciples of Christ and the conscious-
ness of having supplied their wants and added to their comfort
in their last days.

Henry A. Stimson,
L. F. Berry,
AsHER Anderson,
Guilford Dudley,
H. Clark Ford,
Geo. B. Merrill,
Martin Welles,
Chas. H. Richards,
Lucien C. Warner,
F. J. Goodwin,
Nehemiah Boynton,
Joseph H. Selden,
B. H. Fancher,
Samuel L. Loomis,
Ambrose W. Vernon,

Directors.

1913.1 REPORT ON MINISTERIAL RELIEF. 183

Report of B. H. Fancher, Treasurer of the Congrega-
tional Board of Ministerial Relief

For the Three Years
August 1, 1910, to July 31, 1913.

Balance of cash in bank, August 1, 1910 $1,021.16

RECEIPTS FOR THE THREE YEARS.

Donations :

Churches $46,154.19

Individuals 87,352.28

Affihated societies 18,345.72

Income from invested funds 29,819.58

Legacies 21,427.79

Total receipts for three years 203,099.56

$204,120.72

disbursements FOR THREE YEARS.

Salaries, including secretary, Western
representative, stenographers, book-
keeping and extra help $15,405.99

Treasurer's expenses, including bond

and safety box 242.75

Rent of offices 1,368.00

Advertising, including the Board's share
of publishing the American Mission-
ary 2,321.27

Apportionment and Joint Campaign
expenses 371.43

Traveling expenses 2,391.49

Office expenses, including printing, sta-
tionery, supplies, postage, telephone,
telegrams, expressage, and exchange. . 3,433.64

Legacy and investment expenses 172.34

Total expenses $25,706.91

184 REPORT ON MINISTERIAL RELIEF. [1913.

Annuities on conditional gifts $1,757.25

Investment of endowment funds 96,221.25

Paid to pensioners 80,257.89

Total disbursements for the three

years $203,943.30

Balance of cash in bank, July 31, 1913, $177.42

ASSETS OF THE CONGREGATIONAL BOARD OF MINISTERIAL RELIEF.

Book Value, July 31, 1913.

Mortgage on real estate $94,600.00

Railroad and other bonds 188,888.75

Railroad and other stocks 3,190.00

Cash in bank 177.42

$286,856.17

Auditor's Certificate.

The Congregational Board of Ministerial Relief has employed
Mr. M. E. Reichmann, Public Accountant, of New York, to
examine the books and accounts of Mr. B. H. Fancher, its
treasurer, for the three years ending July 31, 1913, and we here-
with submit his statement of the result of his work as a part of
our report.

We have also made a careful examination of all bonds and
other securities held by the Board and find the same to agree
with the records in the books and balance sheet of same date.

The treasurer's bond was submitted to us and found to be in
order.

Guilford Dudley,
Franklin H. Warner,
New York, October 2, 1913. Auditors.

Messrs. Guilford Dudley and Frank H. Warner, Auditors:

Dear Sirs, — At the close of the triennial period ending July

31, 1913, I have gone over and examined the accounts of the

1913.] REPORT ON MINISTERIAL RELIEF. 185

treasurer of the Congi-egational Board of Ministerial Relief
and have found them all correct as shown by the books.

The detailed accounts have been carefully kept and have been
examined as to the clerical accuracy of the bookkeeping. All
pa>Tnents have been compared with the entries in the cash
book, the footings and postings have been verified, the monthly
reports and statements reviewed, and the summary of the three
years' cash transactions as shoun by the treasurer's triennial
report submitted herewith have been found correct.

The cash balance of $177.42 on July 31, 1913, to the credit of
the Board as shown by the Fifth Avenue Bank, and the state-
ment of resources, have been verified and found to agree with the
books of the treasurer.

Respectfully submitted,

Martin E. Reichmann,

Public Accountant.
New York, August 29, 1913.

186 EEPORT UPON MINISTERIAL ANNUITIES. [1913.

REPORT UPON MINISTERIAL ANNUITIES.

Part I.

The National Council, at its Boston meeting of 1910, re-
ceived from the Association of Southern Cahfornia a memorial
asking that an effort be made to start a fund which should
secure for Congregational ministers " a substantial retiring
pension, proportioned in amount to the number of years spent
in our active ministry — not a grant of charity because of
indigence, but a pension of honor because of faithful service."

This memorial was referred to your Board of Ministerial
Relief, which immediately considered it and reported to the
effect that the suggestion of the California brethren met with
its approval.

The memorial was thereupon recommitted to the same Board
for further consideration, that the matter might be more fully
looked into and a report made to the Council at its next meeting.

We, therefore, now report that we have done as you directed.
The whole question has been placed in the hands of a special
committee of our Board, which, with the cooperation of the
secretary, has for many months been giving to the general
subject its earnest attention.

We have considered the economic condition of our ministers,
their necessities, and the means at our command. We have
diligently examined and compared the methods of relief and
sustentation employed by other branches of the church. We
have looked into certain corresponding arrangements offered
by several of the leading insurance companies.

The Ministers' Economic Condition.

Your Board believes it to be a matter of imperative im-
portance that some effectual measure for the relief of our min-
isters, not of a few, but of a great proportion of them, be im-
mediately set on foot.

Upon entering the ministry a man gives up the usual oppor-
tunities of making money, and therewith the hope of possessing

1913.] REPORT UPON MINISTERIAL ANNUITIES. 187

many of the luxuries and larger comforts of life, things which
education and culture have fitted him to appreciate. These
he chc^erfuUy surrenders for Christ's sake and the gospel's.

In return for such sacrifice, it is only right, if he be a faith-
ful man and of fair ability, that his profession should afford
him a living of secure and moderate comfort up to the very end
of his days. This was the ideal of our fathers and it accords
with the Master's teachings, that the laborer is worthy of his hire.

In the life of the modern Protestant church we have, how-
ever, fallen far below this ideal. Professor Rauschenbush
affirms that our ministers properly belong to the proletariat,
their wages rarely ample, generally meager, and often pitifully
small, their employment irregular, uncertain, and, as they ad-
vance in years, increasingly difficult to find. Many of them
have no fixed abode, but drift from city to city and from vil-
lage to \allage, and, having had but the shghtest opportunity
to save for themselves, are dependent for support in old age
upon children, kindred, or friends.

We find that, '^dth a great proportion of our Congregational
ministers, the present situation is deplorable.

Only about four fifths of the churches (4,915 out of 6,064)
report to the Year-Book as to salaries provided for their pastors.
Of these, 1,408 pay $500 or less, 915 pay from $500 to S750,
1,211 pay from $750 to $1,000, 823 pay from $1,000 to $1,500.

In other words, of every hundred salaries received by our
CongTcgational ministers, 28 consist of $500 or less,* 18 range
between $500 and $750, 24 between $750 and $1,000, 17 be-
tween $1,000 and $1,500, leaving only 13 out of the 100 that
exceed $1,500.

If the non-reporting churches had added their fig-ures, the
situation w'ould certainly not appear more cheering, for they,
with a few exceptions, are among the smallest in membership
and weakest in financial streng-th.

These facts speak for themselves. The attempt to live and
provide for a family upon such incomes, especially within the
past few years, can mean but one thing, — that for thousands
of our brethren life is a steady fight with poverty, a struggle
that bears with special severity upon ministers' wives.

*This does not take into account cases where the same minister serves two or more
churches and receives payment from each of them.

188 REPORT UPON MINISTERIAL ANNUITIES. [1913.

And this is not the worst of it. The average minister has
before him the cheerless prospect that at the portals of old age
even this meager income will suddenly cease, and he whose
narrow means have made saving almost impossible, having
no further opportunity to earn a living by his chosen profession,
will be thrown into a position of humiliating dependency.

Such conditions we deem alike unjust to the Christian min-
istry and discreditable to the church.

Society, long committed to the principle that the old age of
public servants should be provided for, has in recent years been
giving wide extension to that principle. Pensions are granted
to-day, not to old soldiers only, but to government employees
in civil service, to veteran police and firemen, to teachers and
professors, and to employees of many of our great corporations.
It is high time to begin treating with more systematic and con-
siderate care the old age of our veteran preachers.

We believe that such provision would increase a minister's
efficiency. To be assured that he had something coming to him
in the daj' of need would release a man from anxiety, afford him
a comfortable sense of security, and enable him to give an un-
divided mind to his great work. Relieved from the need of
saving every possible penny against the evil da}^, he might have
somewhat more to spend on the necessities of life, the wholesome
and abundant food that makes one fit for work, the decent
clothing required both for self-respect and the respect of the
community, and the books that are the essential tools of the
preacher's trade.

We further believe that such provision would tend to lengthen
the period of his activity in pastoral service.

Our present method of dealing with our ministers is un-
speakably wasteful. We are upon the one hand complaining
of the meager supply of preachers, and pleading with young
men to enter the profession, while on the other we are throwing
away by scores and hundreds, fully trained and equipped men
at the very height of their power.

A minister at fifty years of age, if his health be unimpaired,
and if, escaping the snares of indolence, he has been giving his
whole heart to the work of his calling, is worth much more to
any church than he was worth at forty, immeasurably more
than at thirty.

1913.] REPORT UPON MINISTERIAL ANNUITIES. 189

If he has lost something of youthful ardor, he has gained
much more in richness and ripeness of mind, in practical wis-
dom, in tenderness of heart, and in spiritual power. Yet these
fundamental facts of ministerial experience very frequently
have no weight with our churches, for if, for any reason, the
minister of fifty or more loses his pulpit, he finds it exceedingly
difficult to secure another.

Churches searching for a man of his verj^ type will usually
pass him by without consideration, their dominant reason being
the fear that if they take Mm they may in a few years " have
an old man on their hands."

At whatever age he may have been called, it must certainly
be a ver}' disagTeeable task to dismiss a worthy and beloved
pastor simply because he is too old to serve efficiently, especially
when he has no competence beyond his salary. Few churches
can afford to retire him on half-pay. It is deemed simpler to
avoid all such embarrassments by choosing a younger man as
minister and letting him go before he gets too old. We do not
mean to imply that we approve of this policj' of passing by men
of mature strength, but we recognize that the condition exists
and we believe that proper provision for the ministers' old age
will, in a measure, serve to rectifj^ it.

Now if the chm-ch could feel that the minister's old age was
partly provided for, there might be greater willingness to em-
ploy him in the later j-ears of his maturity.

On the other hand, bj' tending to enhance the dignity and
security of the ministerial office, such provision should he in-
fluential in persuading young men to enter the ministry. We be-
lieve that the clergj^man's unfortunate economic condition
has had no small influence in withholding them from the pro-
fession. It is not that our youth lack the heroic spirit, the
wdlfingness to make sacrifices; but it is one thing to sacrifice
yourself and quite another to sacrifice your wife and children.
Not every sacrifice is noble. The sacrifice which involves the
crippHng of one's powers, the narrowing of one's opportunities,
and the diminution of one's influence is always of questionable
wisdom.

If we wish to secure for the Christian ministry the best of our
j^oung men, we must take all possible pains to make the min-
ister's place one of dignity and genuine opportunity.

190 report upon ministerial annuities. [1913.

The Means at Our Command.

The investigations of the Board show that it is beyond the
means of the churches to inaugurate at this time a system of
pensions based on years of service, such as has been suggested
for our action, adequate provision not having been made in the
past for this purpose.

We have, however, come here to-day with a definite, practical
plan by which a certain modest provision can be made in the
future for any and every Congregational minister, who finds
himself willing and able to enter into the arrangement we pro-
pose, by himself making annual payments toward the funds
which it is necessary to raise.

In the plan which we present, the term " pension " being pre-
empted, as already employed in our ordinary work of ministerial
relief, we are using in its stead the word " annuity," which
should be quite as acceptable, and which designates somewhat
more accurately the thing we have in mind; and we propose
that the new enterprise be entitled " The Annuity Fund for
Congregational Ministers . ' '

Before presenting the plan, one more preliminary word
should be said. This is a very serious undertaking. It will
require at the outset, and it will continue to require, no small
sum of money. Your Board knows of no multi-millionaire
who stands ready to start us off with a great gift. If the thing
is to be done at all, our own ministers and churches must do it.
We, therefore, deem it essential to the plan:

1. That every minister for whom an annuity is to be pro-
vided should himself help to provide it by regular payments
during the productive period of his life.

2. That every church should be taught to regard its fair
share of the necessary cost of properly providing for the old
age of our Congregational ministers as a part of its ordinary
fixed expenses.

3. That every man of ample means among us should be
made acquainted with this fund as affording one of the safest,
wisest, and most profitable opportunities for the investment of
the wealth entrusted to him.

1913.] REPORT UPON MINISTERIAL ANNUITIES. 191

Part II.

The plan proposed bj^ the Board and the resolutions which
it offers to the Council are as follows: I, The Plan in Outline;
II, EHgibility and Membership; III, Members' Benefits from
the Fund; IV, Rates of Members' Annual Pajinent; V,
Methods of Members' Payments; VI, Withdrawals; VII,
Ineligible Ministers and Lapsed Members; VIII, How to
Start the Fund; IX, The Annuity Fund and Ministerial Relief;
X, Resolutions.

I. The Plan in Outline.

1. The plan as proposed contemplates, when completed:

(1) An annuity (or annual payment until death) of five
hundred dollars ($500) beginning at sixty-five years of age, for
ministers who have served the Congregational Church at least
thirty years.

For ministers who have served less than thirty years, an
annuity of one hundred dollars ($100), beginning at the age of
sixty-five, with ten dollars ($10) additional for each j^ear of
service.

(2) A disability aimuity of one hundred dollars ($100), with
ten dollars additional for each year of service in the Congrega-
tional Church over five years, the total not to exceed five hun-
dred dollars ($500) .

(3) In case of the death of the minister, an annuity for the
widow of three fifths of what would be due and payable to
him as an annuitant, this amount continuing to the minor chil-
dren in the event of the death, or remarriage, of the widow.

2. We have at present no new fund to start this annuity
plan, and the funds of the Ministerial Relief Society are in-
violably pledged to the specific work of ministerial rehef (or
pensions to aged and disabled ministers).

It is proposed, therefore, to begin the operation of the annuity
fund by securing not less than three hundred ministers, who will
become members, and who will make regular annual pajrments.

Such pajTnents by the ministers will be sufficient to make ef-
fective one fifth, or 20 per cent, of the proposed benefits. The
other four fifths, or 80 per cent, must be supplied by the churches
and individual givers.

192 REPORT UPON MINISTERIAL ANNUITIES. [1913.

II. Eligibility and Membership.

1. All ministers of the Congregational Church, in good and
regular standing, and of good health, and not over fifty-five
years of age, whether engaged in pastoral work or executive
work for the denomination (such as that of editors or secretaries),
shall be eligible to membership in the Fund.

2. The age when the annuity shall begin shall be sixty-five,
with the proviso that the minister who comes into the Fund
on or after the age of forty may elect that the annuity
shall begin in his case at seventy instead of sixty-five. In
the event of this election ministers are eligible for member-
ship up to age sixty. This naturally reduces the member's
rate of annual payment, as will be seen by the table of rates.

3. A minister desiring to become a member of the Fund will
be furnished with blanks to be adopted by the Board, which are
to be properly filled out. These will include a form to be signed
by the applicant himself; a form to be signed by the secretary
of the Ministerial Association of which the minister is a member ;
and a physician's certificate testifying to the applicant's general
good health. On the receipt of these papers properly signed,
and recommended by a local committee, and accompanied by
the first payment, and duly approved by the Board, the certi-
ficate of membership will be forwarded to the applicant.

4. The forms for apphcation for membership and the physi-
cian's certificate will be somewhat along the following lines :

APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP.

To the Board of Directors of the Annuity Fund for
Congregational Ministers in the U.S.A.

My full name is I was born

My wife's name is Date of birth

I was ordained to the ministry in the year (If in another denomina-
tion, give the name of said denomination and year of transfer )

I am Pastor of Church, City,

State, Association or Conference of ...:

Served the Congregational ministry years.

I was married ; I have children, date of birth respectively

My last iUness, trivial or otherwise, was

1913.] REPORT UPON MINISTERIAL ANNUITIES. 193

and the physician who attended me or was considted by me the last time

in the month of in the year

was of

I hereby warrant that I am now and have been the past six months in good
health and able to regularly discharge my ministerial duties, and hereby
make application for membership in the Annuity Fund for Congregational
Ministers.

Date 19 . Signature

N. B. — Please accompany this appUcation with a physician's certificate,
a blanlc for which is enclosed. It must also be accompanied by a remit-
tance for either the full amount of dues for the first year, or semi-annual
or quarterly instalment thereof. Remittances are to be made in Checks,
Drafts, or U. S. Postal Orders, payable to Treasurer Annuity Fund.

The facts given in this appUcation will be regarded as strictly confidential.

19

To THE Annuity Fund for Congregational Ministers:

This will certify that I have been a practicing physician since the

year and have been personally acquainted with the Rev.

for years, am now and have

been his family physician. The only illness or ailments within five years
wilji which he has been afflicted were

that he is now in good health, in possession of all his senses and faculties,
able to discharge efficiently his duties as a minister of the gospel, and I
have no reason to suspect the existence of any tendency' to disability, and,
therefore, recommend him for membership in the Annuity Fund for Con-
gregational Ministers in the U. S. A.

M.D.

Graduate of Medical College.

III. Members' Benefits from the Fund.

The benefits which will come to the contributing minister are
as follows :

1. To the minister sixty-five years of age, who has served
the Congregational Church at least thirty years :

(1) An annuity (or annual pajinent until death) of $100.
This sum is provided for by the ministers' o-s\ti annual pajTnents.

(2) An additional annuity as determined by the Board of
Directors, based on the contributions to the 80 per cent fund
received from the churches.

194 REPORT UPON MINISTERIAL ANNUITIES. [1913.

The total amount of the annuity to be received by him
shall not exceed $500.

This pro rata amount is dependent upon the generosity of the
church and the general success of the plan. This means that
as the 80 per cent fund is gradually increased by Congregational
contributions, individual gifts, and bequests, the amounts
received by the minister will be proportionately increased.
The American Presbyterian Church, after an experience of
four years, is now paying twice the amount of the annuities
which the ministers' owtl payments provided for - — that is,
for each $100 arranged for by the ministers' payments, the
Fund now gives an additional $100.

2. To the minister sixty-five years of age, who has served the
Congregational Church less than thirty years :

(1) An annuity of $20 provided for by his contributions
to the Fund; together with $2 for each j^ear of service to the
Congregational Church, this total amount not to exceed $100.

(2) An additional annuity as determined by the Board of
Directors, based on the contributions to the 80 per cent fund
received from the churches.

The total amount of the aimuity to be received by him shall
not exceed $100, together with $10 for each year of service.

For instance, when the Fund is in full operation, a minister
who has served the church twenty-five years would receive as
an annuity, at sixty-five years of age, $350.

3. To the minister becoming disabled before the age of sixty-
five:

(1) An annuity, provided for by his payments to the Fund,
amounting to $20; together with $2 for each year of service
to the Congregational Church over five years.

(2) An additional annuity as determined by the Board of
Directors, based on the contributions to the 80 per cent fund
received from the churches.

The total amount of such annuity received by him shall not
exceed $100, together with $10 for each year of service to the
church over five years; the entire annual disability annuity
not to exceed five hundred dollars ($500).

For instance, when the Fund is in full operation, a minister
who has served the church twenty-five years would receive as
an annuity at disability $300.

1913.] REPORT UPON MINISTERIAL ANNUITIES. 195

By disability is meant total and permanent disability by rea-
son of sickness or accident, such as prevents the minister from
performing the duties of his profession.

Should such disability prove to be temporary and not perma-
nent, when it has been removed the member may resume the
payment of dues and continue in good standing in the Fund;
and the benefits which he has received during his temporary
disability shall not reduce, or in any way impair, the benefits
which will come to him in the future.

4. Annuities for widows and minor children.

In case of the death of a minister the Fund does not in any
sense create an estate payable in cash, but it provides an annuity
for his widow and children. This provision is as follows :

(1) For the widow, three fifths of the annuity the husband
was receiving; or if he was not an annuitant, then three fifths
of the disability annuity he was entitled to receive at the date
of his death.

If the minister leaves no widow, but leaves minor children, the
annuity is divided ratably among his minor children, during
their minority (as outlined in Section 2 below).

(2) In case of the widow's death, or remarriage, the annuity
accruing to her will be transferred to the minor children, to be
equallj^ divided among them, each child to receive its share
until it reaches the age of twenty-one, when the Fund will be
relieved from all further claims.

(3) A widow shall not be considered as eligible for the an-
nuity benefits unless her marriage occurred during the minister's
years of active service, and before he had become an annuitant
of the Fund.

The above benefits are outlined for old age annuities be-
ginning at sixty-five. If the members entering the Fund at
age of forty or more elect to have their annuities begin at
seventy, then it is understood that the benefits, outlined above,
are modified accordingl3^

All annuit}'^ benefits may be paid by the Board in quarterly
installments.

It will be seen that the full benefits, that is, the maximum of
$500 a year annuity, can be paid only when the 80 per cent has
been secured from the churches. But, as fast as the churches
raise their share of the Fund, or any portion of their share, the

196 REPORT UPON MINISTERIAL ANNUITIES. [1913.

benefits from such contributions will go to increase the amounts
of the annuities which can be paid. In the meantime, while
the churches are striving to do their share, the 20 per cent
which the ministers are paying will provide for them 20 per cent
of the full benefits proposed, or a maximum annuity of $100 per
year. This plan, therefore, combines the two qualities of se-
curity and hope; the ministers contribute the securitj^ for the
minimum benefits ; it lies with the churches to make the hope of
an increase of this minimum both reasonable and lively.

IV. Rates of Annual Payments.

1 . The rates of annual payments to be made by the ministers
are calculated from standard tables in conjunction with tables,
based on the lives of Presbyterian ministers, covering a period of
over one hundred years. The same tables were used by the
Ministerial Sustentation Fund of the Presbyterian Church of
the United States. With these available and authenticated
statistics of a sister denomination, the ministers of which so
closely resemble those of our own church, we have deemed it
unnecessary to secure statistics bearing on the lives of minis-
ters of our own denomination. But of course the experience of
our own Fund will be closely followed.

2. Before deciding to have the direction of the Aimuity Fund
entirely in the hands of the church itself, your committee care-
fully considered the question of arranging with some accredited
life insurance company or companies, to whom we could en-
trust the business of caring for the annuities of our Congrega-
tional ministers. Such an investigation revealed the fact that
the rates which they offer, contemplating a profit to the com-
pan}^, were not as favorable as those which our own society
could furnish wth a lower cost of administration. Nor would
they agree to cover so completely the lives of our ministers and
their families as our own plan hopes to do.

A strong additional reason for not allying ourselves with any
life insurance companies is that the church owes it to its min-
isters, and to its own self-respect, that it should in the spirit of
self-sacrifice and love make some adequate provision for the
disability and old age of its faithful pastors; and we are con-
vinced that it would do this work more earnestly, and would

1913.] REPORT UPON MINISTERIAL ANNUITIES. 197

more generously respond to appeal, if it took the burden of
responsibility upon its own shoulders rather than entrust this
noble task to some outside agency.

3. Annuities are, relatively, costly, especially when, as in our
Fund, they cover two lives and protect minor children; and the
minister's longer " expectation of life," while it makes him a
better risk and cheaper to insure than the average man, has the
opposite effect upon the cost of amiuity for him. The longer the
insured lives, the less he costs the company; the longer the
annuitant lives, the more he costs the company. While the
Annuity Fund is not a life insurance companj^, it has to take
into consideration these common principles of life insurance
experience.

4. Our rates, if compared with those of the Presbjrterians,
will be found to be higher. The Presbyterian annuities begin
at seventy, ours at sixty-five except in the case of those who elect
that their annuities shall begin at seventy. It was felt by your
committee to be more desirable to have the annuities begin at
an earlier age than seventy, and therefore sixty-five was decided
upon. This necessitates increased rates of payments, because
we must not only begin our annuities five years earlier, but we
must also suffer the loss of the five annual pajTnents the Presby-
terian minister must make between sixty-five and seventy.
However, to those ministers forty years of age, or older, who
feel deterred from joining the Fund on account of the increased
cost, we offer the privilege of having their annuities begin at
seventy, with the corresponding lower rates of payments.
This privilege is offered to ministers up to sixty years of age.

5. The rate of interest, which has been employed in these
computations, is 3| per cent, which is considered a conservative
rate in view of the long period of time covered by the agree-
ments entered into by the Fund with its contributing members.

6. To defray the expense of administration it is customary
to load the rates with a certain additional charge. In our case,
this loading is taken at slightly less than 6 per cent, which is
materially less than the customary charge.

7. To provide for the expense of the early years in launching
the Fund, we hope to secure special contributions. And it is
assumed, judging by the experience of similar enterprises in
other denominations, that part of the money contributed by

198 REPORT UPON MINISTERIAL ANNUITIES. [1913.

individuals and churches will be designated for the maintenance
of the Fund, and will be sufficient to defray the cost of adminis-
tration.

We would call the attention to the general business principle,
that in originating any enterprise, either secular or religious, the
proportion of expense to immediate returns is always higher
than when the plan has been brought to maturity.

8. It is estimated that when the Fund is in full operation, an-
nual contributions by the churches, for each member, will
average about $200, or about S100,000 for a membership of five
hundred ministers, of the average age of forty. If the ministers
provide one fifth of this amount by their annual payments, or
$20,000, the remainder, or $80,000 a year, must be raised by
contributions from the churches, gifts, and bequests, and the
income from endowments. As the number of the members of
the Fund increases, the annual expenses would be in propor-
tion.

9. It should be carefull}^ noted that the rates are in no way
based upon the income of the minister, but entirely upon his
age. The benefits of the Fund are based on the length of service
to the church.

10. The age of the minister is reckoned from his nearest
birthday.

11. The rate per year which a minister pays when he joins
the Fund remains the same each year ; but the Fund reserves the
right, in the interest of security to all its members, to make
a readjustment of its rates, if found necessary, as deter-
mined by the actual experience, at the end of every five years.
We do not, however, anticipate such a contingency. It must
always be remembered that the Fund exists for the benefit and
protection of its members, and not for making money.

12. The following tables give the age of the minister; and
the rates of the ministers' 20 per cent payments; and the 100
per cent, or full payments of both ministers and churches for
annuities to begin at age sixty-five. To these have been added
the ministers' rates for annuities beginning at seventy optional
to ministers of age forty to sixty.

Taking a few sample cases from the tables, we see that a
minister entering the Fund —

1913.] REPORT UPON MINISTERIAL ANNUITIES. 199

At 25 pays $22.13 a year imtil 65

„ 30 „ 25.15

„ 35 „ 30.28

„ 40 „ 38.22

„ 45 „ 50.61

„ 50 „ 71.77

„ 55 „ 114.22

V. Methods of Members' Payments.

1. A minister's annual payment may be made either by him-
self, or by some other individual.

2. The payments are expected to be made annually, but they
may be made, if so desired, semi-annuall}^, or quarterly.

3. If a member of the Fund wishes to make a single payment
he can do so, the amount being determined, on application, by
the actuary from the tables of rates; or, if he so desire, he may
make a number of payments in advance, the amount payable
to be discounted at the rate of 3| per cent per annum.

VI. Withdrawals.

1. If a minister ceases to make his payments, or for any
reason desires to withdraw from the Fund, he may cancel his
agreement and surrender his certificate of membership, at which
time he is entitled, in lieu of all future claims on the Fund, to a
graded amount as determined by the Board ; this amount not to
be less than one half of the total pajonents he has made. This
method of settlement is adopted as a reasonable one, on the
ground that the Fund, during the time of his membership, has
assumed the risk of his disability or death; and, therefore, the
full amount paid by the retiring member cannot be returned.
He may rejoin the Fund at any time, subject to medical ex-
amination, by making good his lapsed payments.

2. Should a minister withdraw from the Congregational min-
istry, or should he retire from the ministry entirely, the same
rule applies as to the refunding of not less than half of his pay-
ments. But in both of the two latter cases, the minister's
connection with the Fund is automatically severed, and it does
not lie within his option to continue his membership.

The FuncJ is not a hfe insurance company, but it is a wise and

200 REPORT UPON MINISTERIAL ANNUITIES. [1913.

sound plan of mutual cooperation between churches and min-
isters for making a just provision for aged and disabled servants
of Christ.

VII. Ineligible Ministers and Lapsed Members.

1. Ministers who are now disabled, or who are disqualified
by age from joining the Fund, will be provided for by the present
system of ministerial relief.

2. Congregational ministers, who have temporarily contri-
buted to the Annuity Fund and who have discontinued their
payments, shall not be considered ineligible for future help by
the Department of Ministerial Relief.

VIII. How TO Start the Fund.

1. The Fund shall go into operation when three hundred
bona-fide ministerial subscribers shall have been secured.

2. Every subscriber of the original three hundred members
shall be required to pay $10 on signing the preliminary applica-
tion blank for membership. A receipt shall be given for this
sum, and the amount shall be credited to his account ; or, it will
be returned to him if his application for membership be refused,
or should it be deemed inadvisable to put the Fund into opera-
tion.

3. When the requisite number of three hundred subscribers
shall be secured, the Fund shall then be put into operation,
whereupon the following method of procedure will be used :

(1) Those who have indicated their serious purpose of joining
the Fund, by signing the preliminary application blanks and
by the payment of ten dollars, will then receive the necessary
regular application forms. On the receipt of these, properly
signed, and recommended by the local committee which the
Board may designate, and duly approved by the Board, the
certificate of membership will be forwarded to the applicant.

(2) The certificate of membership of the original three hun-
dred members shall bear the date, not of their application, but
of the day on which the Fund goes into operation; and likewise
the rate of annual payments for each minister shall be based
on his age at the time when the Fund goes into operation. The
rate for all applicants after the first three hundred will be based
on their age at the date of their application.

1913.] REPORT UPON MINISTERIAL ANNUITIES. 201

IX. The Annuity Fund and Ministerial Relief.

It seems to your Committee desirable that the work of an-
nuities be committed to the Board of Ministerial Relief. The
two forms of work arc distinct, but so related as to be properly
under one direction; while the funds of the two departments
will be kept separate. As the years pass, the effect of the an-
nuities will be to limit the number of applications for relief;
though that work will long continue, since the extent of indi-
vidual need will in many cases be beyond the amount furnished
by the annuity, and there will always be those for whom there
is no annuity provided because they have not been members
of the Annuit}^ Fund.

X. Resolutions.

To carry this plan into effect we, therefore, offer the following
resolutions :

First, That the Board of Ministerial Relief be instructed
to undertake this work and to create a department in ac-
cordance with this general plan, to be knowai as the Department
of Annuities.

Second, That, if necessary, an application be made to legis-
lature of the state of Connecticut that the charter of the Board
of Ministerial Relief be so amended that the Annuity Fund may
be made a department of its work; or that a new charter be
secured in Connecticut, or some other state, to cover the field
of Ministerial Annuity. And in the event of its being necessary
to secure a new charter for the work of annuity, that the officers
of the Board of the Annuity Fund and the Board of Ministerial
Relief be the same individuals, but that their funds shall be
kept separate and distinct, and that all their meetings shall be
held independently.

Third, That the Board of Ministerial Relief be empowered
to secure such funds and to engage such assistants and to take
such other steps as in its judgment may be necessary for the
efficient inauguration and prosecution of this undertaking, and
to carry out the will of the National Council as expressed in its
action on the Annuity Fund.

Fourth, That the ministers of the church be appealed to in the
interest of their brethren, and their families, to join the Fund at
once and to make a united and determined effort to secure a

202

REPORT UPON MINISTERIAL ANNUITIES.

[1913.

large representation of the ministers of our denomination in the
same.

Fifth, That churches and individuals be urged to make such a
generous offering of funds at the outset of the movement, that
this long-delayed and most important branch of the work of our
denomination may be an assured success.

Table op

Rates

FOR Annuiti:

Es TO Begin at Age

65.

Full

Payments of Ministers

Ministers' 20%

Payments.

AND Churches

Semi-

Semi-

Age.

Annual.

Annual.

Quarterly.

Annual.

Annual.

Quarterly.

21

21.47

11.05

5.69

107..33

55.27

28.44

22

21.52

11.08

5.70

107.59

55.40

28.50

2.3

21. .57

11.11

5.71

107.83

55.53

28.57

24

21.77

11.21

5.77

108.87

56.07

28.85

25

22.13

11.39

5.86

110.63

56.97

29.31

26

22.57

11.62

5.98

112.83

58.11

29.90

27

23.09

11.89

6.12

115.43

59.45

30.59

28

23.70

12.21

6.28

118.,50

61.03

31.40

29

24.38

12.56

6.46

121.91

62.78

32.30

30

25.15

12.95

6.66

125.75

64.76

33.32

31

26.00

13.39

6.90

129.98

66.94

34.49

32

26.93

13.87

7.14

134.67

69.36

35.69

33

27.96

14.40

7.41

139.77

71.98

37.04

34

29.08

14.98

7.71

145.39

74.88

38.53

35

30.28

15.59

8.02

151.39

77.97

40.12

36

31.62

16.14

8.24

158.08

80.70

41.18

37

33.06

17.03

8.76

165.32

85.14

43.81

38

34.63

17.84

9.18

173.17

89.18

45.89

39

36.36

18.72

9.63

181.78

93.61

48.16

40

38.22

19.68

10.13

191.08

98.41

50.64

41

40.25

20.73

10.67

201.24

103.64

53.33

42

42.48

21.88

11.26

212.39

109.38

56.28

43

44.93

23.14

11.91

224.66

115.70

59.53

44

47.64

24.53

12.62

238.18

122.67

63.12

45

50.61

26.06

13.41

253.05

130.32

67.06

46

.53.93

27.77

14.29

269.65

138.87

71.46

47

57.64

29.68

15.27

288.18

148.41

76.36

48

61.77

31.81

16.37

308.86

159.06

81.84

49

66.45

34.22

17.61

332.29

171.12

88.05

50

71.77

36.96

19.02

358.85

184.81

95.10

51

77.84

40.09

20.63

389.22

200.45

103.14

52

84.86

43.71

22.49

424.31

218..53

112.45

53

93.02

47.91

24.65

465.12

239.54

123.26

54

102.66

.52.87

27.20

513.31

264.35

136.02

55

114.22

58.82

30.27

571.08

294.11

151.34

1913.1

REPORT UPON MINISTERIAL ANNUITIES.

203

Table of Rates for Annuities to Begin at Age 70.

Full

Payments op

Ministers

Ministers' 20%

Payments.

AND Churches.

Semi-

Semi-

Age.

Annual.

Annual.

Quarterly.

Annual.

Annual.

Quarterly.

40

25.89

13.33

6.86

129.45

66.67

34.30

41

27.01

13.91

7.16

135.08

69.57

35.80

42

28.44

14.65

7. .54

142.21

73.24

37.69

43

29.55

15.22

7.83

147.74

76.09

39.15

44

30.97

15.95

8.21

154.87

79.76

41.04

45

32.52

16.75

8.62

162.59

83.73

43.09

46

34.21

17.62

9.07

171.07

88.10

45.33

47

36.06

18.57

9..56

180.31

92.86

47.78

48

38.08

19.61

10.09

190.30

98.05

50.45

49

40.29

20.75

10.68

201.49

103.77

53.39

50

42.74

22.01

11.33

213.71

110.06

56.63

51

45.45

23.41

12.04

227.23

117.02

60.22

52

48.44

24.95

12.84

242.20

124.73

64.20

53

51.77

26.68

13.72

•258.86

133.31

68.60

54

55. .53

28.60

14.72

277.65

142.99

73.58

55

59.77

30.78

15.84

298.86

1.53.91

79.20

56

64.61

33.27

17.12

323.03

166.36

85.60

57

70.19

36.15

18.60

3.50.97

180.75

93.01

5S

76.71

39.51

20.33

383.57

197.54

101.65

59

84.42

43.48

22.37

422.09

217.38

111.85

60

93.69

48.25

24.83

468.46

241.26

124.15

Sixth, That in the Hght of the urgency of the need and the
dutj' of our church to accomplish this undertaking in a manner
worthy of the traditions of our denomination; and in order to
give permanency and stabiHty to the Fund, and to secure as
large annuity pajnnents to our ministers as possible from the
inauguration of the Fund, we recommend that an earnest and
united effort be made to raise as soon as practicable an endow-
ment fund of not less than .$2,000,000, the income of which shall
be applied toward the 80 per cent of the annuities apportioned
to the churches. When we remember the £250,000 Sustenta-
tion Fund of our English Congregational brethren; the elaborate
plan of the American Protestant Episcopal Church for clerical
pensions; that the Presbyterian Church is planning to raise
$10,000,000 for its Annuity Fund and Ministerial Relief; and
that the Methodist Church not only backs the fund for its
ministers with a great and profitable book concern, but is raising
a $5,000,000 " jubilee fund " for conference claimants, this sug-

204 REPORT UPON MINISTERIAL ANNUITIES. [1913.

gestion which we submit to the Council can only appear as a
bold but conservative proposition, which the Congregational
Church can certainly make a living reality, if it has faith and
determination so to do.

1913.1 REPORT OF APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION. 205

REPORT OF THE APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION.
I. Meetings and Organization.

The first meeting was held December 7-9, 1910, in New York
City, sixteen members and two proxies being present. The
second meeting was held in Chicago, October 16-17, 1911.
Present : thirteen members, two proxies.

Between meetings the Executive Committee has been in
charge of the work of the Commission and has met at such
intervals during each year as occasion demanded.

Samuel T. Johnson, Minnesota and Florida, has been chair-
man of the Commission during the triennium; Samuel B.
Capen, Massachusetts, vice-chairman; Rev. Charles C. Merrill,
Massachusetts, recording secretary. Charles A. Hull, New
York, was treasurer until his death, February, 1913. In Mr.
Hull's place. Rev. Lewis T. Reed, New York, for a time acted
as treasurer, and then John R. Rogers of New York was perma-
mently appointed.

The first chairman of the Executive Committee was Rev.
Clarence F. Swift, Massachusetts, who was succeeded in June,
1911, by Lucien C. Warner, New York. During Dr. Warner's
absence abroad, between October, 1912, and July, 1913, Samuel
B. Capen, Massachusetts, took his place on the Executive
Committee and acted as chairman. The members of the
Executive Committee have been: the chairman of the Com-
mission ex officio, Rev. Clarence F. Swift, Massachusetts, suc-
ceeded by Rev. Lewis T. Reed, New York; Lucien C. Warner,
New York; Miss Sarah Louise Day, Massachusetts, who has
served as recording secretary of the committee during the
triennium; Charles A. Hull, New York, succeeded by John R.
Rogers, New York.

At the first meeting of the Commission, Rev. Charles C.
Merrill, Massachusetts, was chosen temporary secretary until
the work of such an officer should be turned over to the proposed
secretarj^ of the National Council with enlarged duties. Such

206 REPOET OF APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION. [1913.

a secretary of the Council not having been chosen, Mr. Merrill's
election as secretary of the Commission was made permanent,
and he has continued as its only paid officer.

During the first year of the Commission's work, the territory
west of Ohio, and including the southern states, was assigned to
the chairman of the Commission for general supervision and
executive work, while the territory east of and including Ohio
was assigned to the secretary. Since January, 1912, the entire
country has been under the general charge of the secretary.
Since November, 1911, his office has been at the Congregational
House in Boston in connection with the secretary of the Council,
whose hospitable and cordial attitude toward the Commission's
work deserves special mention. Beginning with January of the
present year a western headquarters of the Commission has
been maintained in the office of the Illinois Congregational
Conference, 19 South La Salle Street, Chicago.

II. Financial Statement.

For the Year 1911.

Received:

From the Societies, according to their shares of

the national apportionment $8,000.00

Contributions 15.00 $8,015.00

Expended:

For Commission meeting in New York City, De-
cember, 1910 $743.74

Executive Committee meetings 30.70

Pubhcity, including literature, stationery, and

advertising 1,269.25

Chairman's expenses — office and travel 1,427.60

Secretary's expenses — • office and travel 1,617.67

Secretary's salary 2,400.00

State promotion 359.42

Otherexpenses 9.28 7,857.66

Balance, December 31 $157.34

For the Year 1912.

Received:

Balance from 1911 $157.34

From the Societies 6,000.00 $6,157.34

1913.] REPORT OF APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION. 207

Expended:

Publicity, including literature and advertising .... $874.33
Office expenses, including stationery and supplies,
telephone and telegraph, postage and express,

rent, office assistant and other office help 1,. 536. 86

Card index 300.83

Secretary's travel 782.42

Secretary's salary 2,400.00

State promotion 218.48 6,112.92

Balance, December 31 $44.42

For the Year 1913 to September 1 — Eight Months.

Received:

Balance from 1912 $44.42

From the Societies 3,890.00 $3,934.42

Expended:

Publicity $361.50

Office expenses 1,024.46

Secretary's travel 470.89

Secretary's salary 1,800.00

State promotion 166.12

Expense of Treasurer 14.00 3,836.97

Balance, September 1 $97.45

III. Outline of Work.

1. Relation to the States. The main work of the Commission
has been to aid each state in developing such an organization
and such methods of work as to enable it with increasing
interest and intelligence to raise its own budget and its share of
the national budget. Accordingly, the officers of the Commis-
sion have personally conferred once or more with the State
Apportionment Committees in every state east of the Rocky
Mountains and north of the Mason and Dixon line, — the
states, that is, which are asked to raise nineteen twentieths of
the $2,000,000. A portion of the Pacific states and of the
southern states have also been visited. In addition to the
personal contact there has been extensive and continuous
correspondence, special attention being given in this way to
the states which could not be reached personally.

Without question the gain has been great in the efficiency
with which state committees are doing their vitally important
work. They are sending out more workable figures. They are

208 REPORT OF APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION. [1913.

engaging in more definite effort to raise their respective ap-
portionments. They are sustaining a more vigorous relation-
ship to their district association committees, partly in helping
them with the apportionment figures and partly in pointing the
way for promotion work.

In general, it may be said that the activity of the Commission
in relation to the states has been welcomed. There was need of
a clearing-house of information between state committees;
there was also need of correlating the national and state workers.
The Commission has in some real, though manifestly imperfect,
way met these needs. It could scarcely have done so, had it
not included in its membership those who had had practical
experience as state workers.

In connection with this principal activity, a good deal of
speaking has been done, usually under the auspices of state
committees, at state conferences, district associations, ministers'
meetings, and local churches. Consultations at all of these
meetings have been customary.

2. The Every-Church Campaigns among Associations. This
was an effort in 1912-1913 to reach every church in a district
association within a given period of time. The first campaign
was held in November and the last in June. The following asso-
ciations were visited: Illinois, Fox River, Central West, Elgin;
Michigan, Eastern; New York, Susquehanna; New Hamp-
shire, Hillsboro, Rockingham; Vermont, Rutland, Orleans;
Massachusetts, Hampden, Wobum, Essex North, Worcester
Central; Rhode Island; Connecticut, Hartford, New London.
The total number of churches reached has been three hundred
and ten, or one twentieth of the churches of the country. The
amount of the apportionment assigned these churches was
$198,532, or nearly one tenth of the entire $2,000,000. About
forty secretaries and field workers of the Societies participated
for one or more appointments, and efficient help was given by
state representatives. Each campaign, though initiated by the
Commission, was set up under the auspices of the association
committee on apportionment. The chairman or other working
member on the committee rendered loyal service in the effort
to make these campaigns a success.

There was thus cooperation, first, among the Societies, since
no representative went to speak for his own Society alone, but

1913.] REPORT OF APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION. 209

to bring a message in behalf of the entire Congregational mis-
sionary enterprise; and second, cooperation among the churches
of a given group in the attempt to afford a certain definite
support to Congregational missions under the leadership of a
committee which they themselves had chosen for this purpose.

The campaigns have been characterized by the fact that small
churches as well as large have been visited, and also by the
endeavor to hold at every church visited a conference with the
church officers and missionary committee, at which definite
suggestions could be made concerning the raising of the appor-
tionment, the carrying on of missionary education and the mak-
ing of the every-member canvass.

These campaigTis were begun so late in 1912 as to have little
or no effect upon the contributions in that year. The results
in this respect cannot be tabulated until after the returns for
1913 have come in. It can now be said, however, that the
methods emploj^ed seem to point a way by which the Societies,
through a joint bureau like the Commission, can cooperate in
reaching a much larger territory than is being reached by the
present methods. We have been constantly saying: " The
crux of the situation is the local church." Here is one means of
coming into contact vnth the local church on a somewhat
extensive scale.

3. Relation to Societies. Close relations have been main-
tained with the national and district officers of the various
Societies and they have cooperated heartily in the Commission's
work. The secretary of the Commission has regularly at-
tended the meetings of the secretaries of the Societies in the
east and has frequently met with the Chicago secretaries in
conference. Special attention has been given to the Women's
Societies in the effort to correlate their work more clearly with
the Apportionment Plan. The presence of their representa-
tives on the Commission has been a great aid to progress here.

4. Card Index of A'p'portionment Figures and Contributions.
In 1911 returns were received from a number of state committees
as to the apportionment figures which they had sent out to
their churches. These, however, were not complete and it
did not seem worth while to catalogue them so as to make them
available for the officers of the Societies. But in 1912 the
state committees furnished figures for about three fourths of

210 REPORT OF APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION. [1913.

the churches of the country, and this year figures are on file
for about four fifths of those churches. A card has been made
out for each church, which records its apportionment and its
contributions, the card being arranged to cover a five-year
period. A complete set of these cards is on file in New York,
as well as at the Commission's office in Boston, and there are
files in Chicago and San Francisco for the states which are
covered from those centers. Each state has also been furnished
with a set of its own cards. These figures are helpful to the
Societies in informing them as to the detailed action that has
been taken with regard to apportionment in the several states,
and are invaluable in enabling the officers of the Commission
to keep track of apportionment progress.

5. The National Apportionment for 1913. This was made
out with great care after eliciting all possible information from
state committees. In general, the previous apportionment to
the state was used as a guide, but certain changes were made in
order to conform as closely as possible to actual practice in the
several states. The Commission, however, did not feel that
it was authorized in apportioning less than the $2,000,000, or
apportioning for each Society less than its share of the $2,000,-
000. In order to help state committees and Society officials,
not only was a figure for each Society indicated in sending the
apportionment to a state, but also a percentage for each Society,
as showing what was its share of the total amount.

6. Literature. The Commission has now on hand what is
felt to be a fairly complete outfit of helps for state committees,
association committees, pastors, church officers and missionary
committees, as well as for general distribution among the church
membership. (For Ust of literature, see Appendix B.)

This summary of the work of the Commission shows that it
has been primarily occupied with the fundamentals of organiza-
tion, and only recently, through the every-church campaign,
has it been able to reach directly the local church in any far-
reaching way.

IV. The Statistical Record.

Fuller tables are given in the appendix. Attention here is
given only to a few outstandmg facts.

1. Total Contributions. The Congregational Missionary So-

1913.1

REPORT OF APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION.

211

cietics received in 1912 as contributions that counted on the
apportionment a total of $1,217,520, which was $35,852, or
2.9 per cent, less than in 1911, and $19,239, or 1.5 per cent, less
than in 1910. (See Appendix C, I, 1.)

2. By Societies, the gains in 1912 over 1910 were, H. M. S.,
$21,488 (6.6%); A. M. A., $3,990 (2.8%); C. B. S., $10,018
(13.5%). Losses in 1912 over 1910 were, A. B. C. F. M., $32,-
412 (10.3%); W. B., $10,860 (5.1%); C. E. S., $9,924
(14.8%); S. S. and P. S., $157 (0.2%); M. R., $1,382 (4.0%).
(See Appendix C, 1, 1.)

3. Number of Churches Raising their Apportionment. Out
of 4,220 churches for which apportionment figures were re-
ceived in 1911, 718, or 17 per cent, raised their total apportion-
ment. Out of 5,105 similar churches in 1912, 741, or 14.5
per cent, raised their total apportionment. (By " total ap-
portionment " is meant that they equaled or exceeded the total
amount assigTied them, not that they necessarily met the ap-
portionment for each Society.)

4. Number of Contributing Churches.

a. To the different Societies in 1912 —

W. B., 2,633 — 75 more than in 1910.

H. M. S., 4,593 — 403 „ „

A.M. A., 3,160— 80 „ „

C.B.S., 3,407 — 345 „ „

C.E.S., 2,555 — 262 „ „

M. R., 2,409 — 224 „ „

A. B. C. F. M., 3,116 — 173 less „

C. S. S. &P. S., 3,588— 21 „

(See Appendix C, 1, 1.)

b. To every Society —
1910 1,124

1911 1,272 — 148 more than in 1910, or 13.1%.

1912 1,431 — 307 more than in 1910, or 27.3%.

In 1910, 18.6 per cent of all the churches were contributing
to every Society; in 1911, 21 per cent; 1912, 23.6 per cent.

5. Cities. In The Congregationalist Hand-book for 1913
there are listed nineteen cities as large Congregational centers.
The contributions from these cities (excepting Honolulu) for
three years were as follows: 1910, $277,238; 1911, $284,580;
1912, $272,243.

212 EEPORT OF APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION. [1913.

This means that in 1912 these cities lost 4.3 per cent, which
was one and one-half times the percentage of loss sustained by
the nation as a whole (2.9 per cent). Their loss for 1912 over
1911 was slightly more than a third (34.4 per cent) of the total
loss in the nation, although they were asked for slightly more
than a fifth (21.7 per cent) of the national apportionment.
(See Appendix C, III.)

6. States. By groups the states gained as follows in 1912
over 1910:

New England.

Maine 2.6 per cent

New Hampshire 8.4 ,, ,,

Massachusetts 3.7 ,, ,, (3)

Northeast.

New York 5.7 per cent

New Jersey 16.7 ,, ,,

Maryland 39.5 ,, ,,

District of Columbia 2.9 ,, ,,

Ohio 2.3 „ „

Indiana . . . r 40.8 ,, ,,

Michigan 13.9 ,, ,,

Wisconsin 8.9 ,, ,, (8)

Northwest.

Iowa 5.4 per cent

South Dakota 18.0 „ „ (2)

Pacific.

Montana 68.3 per cent

New Mexico 6.3 ,, ,,

Oregon 18.4 „ „

Nevada 38.0 „ „ (4)

Southern.

West Virginia 433.0 per cent

North Carolina Association. . 326.3 ,, ,,

Georgia Convention 37.5 ,, ,,

Alabama Association 131.3 ,, ,,

Alabama Convention 24.8 ,, ,,

Mississippi 230.0 ,, ,,

Texas 108.0 „ „ (7)

1913.] REPORT OF APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION. 213

By groups the states lost as follows :

New England.

Vermont 9.2 per cent

Rhode Island 1.0 ,, „

Connecticut 1.4 ,, ,, (3)

Northeast.

Pennsylvania 13.8 per cent

Illinois 14.6 „ „ (2)

Northwest.

Minnesota .5 per cent

Missouri 24.7 ,, „

Kansas 8.5 ,, ,,

Nebraska 15.5 ,, ,,

Colorado 21.6 ,, „

North Dakota 12.6 „ „ (6)

Pacific.

Idaho 20.8 per cent

Wyoming 7.8 ,, .,

Utah 18.0 „ „

Arizona 23.1 ,, „

Oklahoma 16.7 ,, „

Arkansas 20.8 ,, ,,

California Northern 5.0 ,, ,, *

California Southern 21.3 ,, ,,

Washington '. . . . 10.5 „ „ (9)

Southern.

Virginia 13.5 per cent

North Carolina Conference, 16.9 ,, ,,

South Carolina 55.8 „ ,,

Georgia Conference 9.2 ,, „

Florida 37.4 „ „

Louisiana 45.3 ,, ,,

Tennessee 56.2 „ ,,

Kentucky 50.0 ,, ,,

Alaska 20.3 „ „

Hawaii 18.4 „ „ (10)

The total number of states or state conferences gaining was
24; the number losing was 30. The New England, Pacific,

214 REPORT OF APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION. [1913.

and Southern groups contain about an equal number of gaining
and losing states. The Northeast group contains by far a
larger number (ratio of 4 to 1) of gaining states, and the North-
west by far a larger number (ratio of 3 to 1) of those which
lost. (See Appendix C, II.)

7. Debt. Investigation shows that there has been no period
of three years since the exhaustion of the Swett and Otis lega-
cies in 1892 when the American Board of Commissioners for
Foreign Missions, the Congregational Home Missionary So-
ciety, and the American Missionary Association — our three
largest Societies — have been so nearly free from debt as dur-
ing the three j^ears covered by this report.

8. The Influence of Apportionment on the Better Distribution
of Contributions throughout the Year. This has apparently
been considerable, as the following facts indicate for the three
largest Societies :

The American Board in 1906, an average year of the former
period, received nearly 40 per cent of its contributions from
churches and individuals during the third quarter of the yeai,
when its fiscal year closes, and 26, 18, and 16 per cent during
the 1st, 2d, and 4th quarters respectively. In 1912, the per-
centage for the third quarter had fallen to 26, while the per-
centage for the other quarters had risen to 28, 18, and 28.

The Congregational Home Missionary Society in 1907, an
average year, received 41| per cent of its contributions from
the churches during the first quarter, when its fiscal year closes;
and 22, 12|, and 24 per cent during the other quarters. In
1912, the percentage for the first quarter had fallen to 32, while
that for the 4th quarter had risen to 35, and those for the
2d and 3d quarters had remained practically the same.

The American Missionary Association in 1908, an average
year, was receiving its contributions from the churches as
follows :

Quarter 1st 2d 3d 4th

Per cent 27 27 17 29

In 1912 these had changed to

Quarter 1st 2d 3d 4th

Percent 22 23^ 23| 31.2

indicating a less marked, but real, gain in distribution.

1913.] REPORT OF APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION. 215

Tlicse changes are doubtless due, in large degree, to the
response of the churches to the suggestion of the Commission
and the state committees, in circular letters near the end of the
j'-ear, that contributions be sent in by January 1 in order to
close the apportionment year strongty. Formerly the close of
its fiscal year was the time when a Society might expect its
most abundant contributions; now the close of the calendar
year has become a time of equal or greater expectation. As
yet, the emphasis on the quarterly remittance does not seem
to have affected the steadiness of contributions notably, al-
though we are glad to say that an increasing number of churches
are adopting this most commendable practice.

9. The Influence of Apportionment on Gain or Loss. A study
of six representative states, East and West, shows a significant
gain in 1912 over 1911 by those churches which equaled or
exceeded their total apportionments, while there was a cor-
responding significant loss by those churches which raised not
over fifty per cent of their total apportionments.

The figures :

Per Cent of Gain Per Cent of Losa

by Churches which by Churches which

Equaled or Ex- Raised Not Over

ceeded Their Fifty Per Cent of

Total Their Total

Apportionment. Apportionment.

Massachusetts 5.6 17.7

Illinois 4.1 27.0

Connecticut 9.5 33.7

New York 65.5 25.8

Iowa 17.7 18.7

South Dakota 116.0 32.2

10. Comment. The failure to show an increase in total con-
tributions to Congregational missions during the past three
years does not mean that many churches have not advanced
under the stimulus of apportionment, nor that the Apportion-
ment Plan has been without result. For example, the gain of
27 per cent in the number of churches contributing to all the
Societies is very significant, although the number of churches
remaining, which do not contribute to all, is startlingly large.
Had it not been for what has been done for apportionment in
states, district associations, and local churches, the falling off,

216 REPORT OF APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION. [1913.

instead of being small, might have been disastrous. The
pertinent figures of paragraph 8, just above, strongly indicate
that this would have been the case. One source of loss, which
with the changing urban population can hardly be controlled,
is suggested by the figures given above concerning the cities.
As yet the churches and sections that have successfully tried
apportionment have not been able to make up for certain in-
evitable sources of loss.

But a more important factor is that during this period we
have been in a transition state with regard to our denomina-
tional benevolences. Questions of reorganization that have
vitally to do with the working of apportionment, as well as
with the inner efficiency of the Societies, have been rife, and
until these questions are settled to the satisfaction of our
churches, no large progress can be expected in the Apportion-
ment Plan.

V. The Future.

1. Who shall Carry on the National Apportionment Work?
If the Council votes to establish a Commission on Missions,
as proposed by the Commission on Polity, both economy and
efficiency suggest that the administration of apportionment be
given into its charge. Economy suggests that course because
it is expensive to get a representative commission together,
and when it does meet, it can readily attend to other coordinate
business. Moreover, the problem of apportionment is so
largely bound up with the problem of general reorganization
that one commission will most naturally and satisfactorily
handle both problems, even though it be found advisable, as it
doubtless will, to give the detailed charge of apportionment to a
subcommittee.

We recommend, therefore, • —

(1) That the present Apportionment Commission continue
to achninister the Apportionment Plan until January 1, 1914,
the expenses to be provided by the Societies as at present;

(2) That, provided a Commission on Missions be established
by the Council, after that date the administration of the Ap-
portionment Plan be one of its duties;

(3) That the portions of the report of the Committee on the

1913.] REPORT OF APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION. 217

Apportionment Plan to the last Council, providing for the
duties of the Apportionment Commission, which arc not
amended or made obsolete by this Council, shall apply to the
relation of the new Commission on Missions to the Apportion-
ment Plan.

2. The Y ear-Book Figures of Contributions to the Benevolent
Societies. Accuracy is the great essential here, not only for the
sake of npportionment, but because, in • general, a book of
religious statistics ought to be reliable. No doubt the present
method of securing the figures of contributions from the treas-
urers of the Societies has some infelicities and churches have
been disappointed in not alwaj^s finding their contributions
accurately reported. We believe, however, that progress lies
in the development and improvement of the present method
rather than a return to the old method of depending upon
a church clerk to discover all the many gifts in the church
which had actually reached the treasurers of the missionary
societies.

We recommend, —

(1) That, the treasurers of the benevolent societies be asked
to continue to furnish for the Year-Book, not later than Febru-
ary 1 of each j^ear, the figures of contributions to their respec-
tive Societies from the churches;

(2) That a copy of these figures be sent to the statistical
secretaries of the several states, as well as to the Secretary of
the National Council;

(3) That the Secretary of the Council in sending the annual
statistical blanks to church clerks no longer ask for figures of
apportionment contributions to the several benevolent socie-
ties;

(4) That as soon as possible after the Council adjourns, the
executive committee of the Apportionment Commission ar-
range with the Secretary of the National Council and the
treasurers of the missionary societies for a meeting, at which
the following topics shall be considered: (a) A date during
the first weeks of January, 1914, after which no contributions
shall be received to count for 1913, the same date, if found
satisfactory, to hold for succeeding years; (6) increased care
in listing contributions that come from different churches in
the same town or city and in crediting contributions from the

218 REPORT OF APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION. [1913.

woman's organizations in a church; (c) securing confirmation
for the year 1913 of the treasurers' figures from church treas-
urers, at least in a few states; (d) reporting in fuller detail con-
tributions for " special " objects that do not count on the
regular budget; (e) reporting contributions from individuals
by states only; (/) publishing for each Society in the missionary
magazines each month a summarized statement of receipts in
such form that the amount of receipts for the apportionment
shall be clearly shown.

3. The Enlistment of Every Church and Every Church Mem-
ber. The preceding recommendations have dealt with questions
of detail in organization and method. We come now to the
question of the real purpose of apportionment and its right
relation to the whole subject of the missionary appeal.

Objection has been made to the word " apportion-ment."
Many persons have not been able to divest themselves of the
idea that it stood for an attempt to dictate to them how much
and to what they should give, rather than an attempt to sub-
stitute modem, and, we believe, more Christian methods of
cooperation for methods that, even at the best, are really
competitive. In spite of objections, our judgment is that the
word should not be given up, but that a greater breadth and
fullness of meaning should be put into it.

To this end, we believe that apportionment work hereafter
should be linked closely with the fundamental work of mis-
sionary education. More money will never be permanently
secured until the minds and hearts of our church members
have become more alert to the present-day needs and the
future opportimity of the missionary enterprise. Education
and finance are inseparable allies. And if cooperation in
finance is worth while, cooperation in education seems equally
so. We must make Congregational missions known in its
unity. We must together help our church members to greater
knowledge and zeal in the cause of missions. When a representa-
tive of the Societies goes to a church he should be able to pre-
sent a plan of education, no less than a plan of finance, which
has the support of the denomination. For him to be charged
with education will make him more vital in presenting finance,
and for him to be charged with finance will make him more
definite in presenting education.

1913.] EEPORT OF APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION. 219

We recommend, —

(1) That the fundamental purpose of Congregational mis-
sionary policy be the enlistment, first, of every church and,
next, of eveiy church member in a support of the Societies that
is both intelligent and adequate;

(2) That the following be recognized as essential parts of
this policy;

a. Missionary Education among Adults: to teach our
church members the real value of missions.

h. Missionary Education in the Sunday-School, with a view
to the church of the future: to be conducted as an integral
part of the religious education which the Sunday-school is
designed to furnish.

c. Apportionment: to provide a way by which the contribu-
tions of each church to the established missionary work of all
the churches may be definite, proportioned and regTilar, like
the contributions to its own support.

d. The E very-Member Canvass: to secure not only more
givers and larger gifts, but, what is of far greater importance,
to win through personal contact a permanent increase in the
number of those who know and love the-cause of missions.

e. The Every-CMirch Campaign: to visit an entire group of
churches during a given time, under the auspices of the State
and Association Missionary Committees, until ultimately every
church in the nation is reached viith. a personal explanation of
the foregoing plans and with first-hand information of what is
being done on the field.

(3) That the Commission on Missions, if it is established, be
charged with the general carrying out of this policy and that the
Congregational Missionary Societies be asked to cooperate in
making it effective.

At the coming meeting of the Council, the Commission expects
to hold a consultation with the state apportionment committees,
the state superintendents or secretaries, and the executive
officers of the Societies, at which several important questions,
such as cooperation in education, the basis of Apportionment,
the relation of woman's organizations to Apportionment,
" special " contributions, individual gifts, the relation of state
and national organizations, will be discussed. After this

220 REPORT OF APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION. [1913.

consultation the Commission may have further recommenda-
tions to present to the Council.

Respectfully submitted,

Samuel T. Johnson, Chairman.

Samuel B. Capen, Vice-Chairman.

Charles C. Merrill, Secretary.

Lucien C. Warner,
Sarah Louise Day,
Lewis T. Reed,
John R. Rogers,

Executive Committee.

1913.] REPORT OF APPORTIONMENT "COMMISSION. 221

APPENDIX A.

The Membership of the Commission.

The members of the Commission, with the changes that have taken place
during the triennium, are as follows:

Samuel T. Johnson, Minnesota and Florida (Council).

Roger Leavitt, Iowa (Council).

Theodore M. Bates, Ohio (Council).

Fred. M. Wilcox, California (Council).

Alexander W. Farhnger, Georgia (Council).

Rev. Lewis T. Reed, New York (Council), succeeding Rev. Charles C.
Merrill, Massachusetts (Council), resigned.

Rev. Asher Anderson, Massachusetts (Council).

Samuel B. Capen, Massachusetts (A. B. C. F. M.).

Rev. Watson L. Philips, Connecticut (C. H. M. S.), succeeding Rev.
Hubert C. Herring, New York, resigned.

John R. Rogers, New York (A. M. A.), succeeding Charles A. Hull,
New York, deceased.

Rev. William Hayes Ward, New York (C. C. B. S.).

Rev. Frederick H. Page, Massachusetts (C. E. S.).

Rev. Frank W. Hodgdon, Massachusetts (C. S. S. & P. S.), succeeding
Rev. Clarence F. Swift, Massachusetts, (resigned).

Lucien C. Warner, New York (C. B. M. R.).

Miss Sarah Louise Day, Massachusetts (W. B. M.).

Miss Flora Starr, lUinois (W. B. M. I.).

Mrs. W. W. Ferrier, Cahfornia (W. B. M. P.), succeeding Miss Henrietta
F. Brewer, resigned, succeeding Mrs. Harry R. Miles, resigned, both of
California.

Mrs. Roy B. Guild, Kansas (W. H. M. F.), succeeding Miss Ella F.
Leland, Massachusetts, resigned, succeedmg Mrs. B. W. Firman, Illinois.

George M. Vial, Illinois (Congregational Brotherhood), succeeding
Frank H. Brooks, Vermont, resigned.

APPENDIX B.
Literature.

The Commission has pubhshed the following literature during the trien-
nium:

" Practical Suggestions for Apportionment." 4 pages.

'' Apportionment. Extracts from the Correspondence of Congregation-
alists of National Reputation." 20 pages.

" A Shorter Catechism on the Apportionment Plan. Thirty Straight
Answers to Thirty Straight Questions." 16 pages.

" The Apportionment Plan Up to Date. Some Principles Stated and
Some Questions Answered." 6 pages.

" Loyalty. The Sunday-School's Share in the Kingdom." 8 pages.

" Apportionment Committee Hand-Book." 30 pages.

222 REPORT OF APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION. [1913.

" A Plain Statement about Apportionment and How to Make It Work
in a City Church." 6 pages.

" Your Church and Its Apportionment. A Study in Church Efficiency."
24 pages.

" Wanted, $2,000,000. Received, $1,250,000. Short, $750,000. Seven
Good Reasons for Finishing the Job." A brief statement of how each
Society could use the increase over its present receipts, which the Appor-
tionment calls for. 12 pages.

" Three Important Facts." A terse summary of the whole matter for
universal distribution. 4 pages.

APPENDIX C.

Statistical Tablks.

Note. — The following tables refer only to the contributions to the
Benevolent Societies under the Apportionment Plan, as reported by the
Treasurers of the Societies to the Secretary of the National Council and
pubhshed in the Year-Book.

I. Record by Societies. (In order to make comparisons fair, the total
figure for 1910 is reduced by the amount of a special Jubilee offering made
to the A. B. C. F. M. by the churches of Hawaii in that year.)

1913.1

REPORT OF APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION.

223

1. Contributions.

Amount.

A.B.C.F.M.

1910 $322,886

1911 317,744

1912 290,474

App't 560,000

w. B. M.

1910 210,980

1911 200,581

1912 200,120

App't 300,000

C. H. M. S.

1910 322,837

1911 346,593

1912 344,325

App't 470,000

A. M. A.

1910 139,909

1911 144,190

1912 143,899

App't 250,000

C. C. B. S.

1910 73,970

1911 81,315

1912 83,988

App't 170,000

C. E. S.

1910 66,873

1911 59,311

1912 56,949

App't 110,000

C. S. S. & P. s,

1910 64,870

1911 66,703

1912 64,713

App't 100,000

M. R.

1910 34,434

1911 36,935

1912 33,052

App't 40,000

Total.

1910 $1,236,7.59

1911 1,2.53,372

1912 1,217,520

App't 2,000,000

Per Cent
of Gain
or Loss.

-15.9

-8.4

-4.9
-2.3

+7.3
-6.5

+3.0
-0.2

+9.9
+3.2

-11.3
-3.9

+2.8
-1.4

+7.4
-10.5

+ 1.3

-2.8

Per Cent

of Appor- Contributing
tionment Churches.
Raised.

3,289
3,222
3,116

51.7

66.7

73.2

57.5

49.4

51.7

64.7

82.5

60.9

2,558
2,560
2,633

4,190
4,207
4,593

3,080
3,094
3,160

3,062
3,175
3,407

2,293
2,443
2,555

3,609
3,554

3,588

2,185
2,497
2,409

5,186
5,080
5,096

Per Cent

Gain or

Loss.

-3.2

+2.8

+9.1

+2.1

+7.3

+4.5

+9 5

-3.5

+0.0

224

REPORT OF APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION.

[1913.

2. Table showing the percentage of the total contributions which each
Society received.

A.B.C.F.M. W.B. H.M.S. A.M. A. C.B.S. C.E.S. S.S.&P.S. M.R.

Per Per Per Per Per Per Per Per

Cent. Cent. Cent. Cent. Cent. Cent. Cent. Cent.

1910 26.1 17 26.1 11.9 5.9 5.4 5.2 2.7

1911 25.3 16 27.6 11.5 6.5 4.7 5.3 2.9

1912 23.8 16.4 2S.2 11.9 6.9 4.6 5.3 2.7

App't 28.0 15.0 23.5 12.5 8.5 5.5 5.0 2.0

3. Tables for three largest Societies, showing what percentage of their
contributions came in during each quarter of the year.

A. B. C. F. M. (including individuals) :

1st Quarter. 2d Quarter. 3d Quarter. ith Quarter.

Per Cent. PerCent. Per Cent. Per Cent.

1906 25.8 18.3 39.4 16.5

1910 21.4 14.8 33.3 30.3

1911 22.3 14.7 37.0 25.7

1912 27.6 18.2 26.3 27.6

Standard 25.0 25.0 25.0 25.0

A. B. C. F. M. (not including individuals) :

1910 24.0 14.1 27.1 34.8

1911 24.0 16.7 29.4 29.9

1912 30.7 15.7 22.4 30.9

Standard 25.0 25.0 25.0 25.0

C. H. M. S. (not including individuals) :

1907 41.5 22.0 12.5 24.0

1910 37.5 18.0 14.5 30.0

1911 27.0 18.0 19.0 36.0

1912 31.7 21.1 11.7 35.3

Standard 25.0 25.0 25.0 25.0

A. M. A. (not including individuals) :

1908 27.0 27.0 17.0 29.0

1910 25.0 24.0 19.0 32.0

1911 21.5 25.5 19.0 34.0

1912 21.7 23.5 23.4 31.2

Standard 25.0 25.0 25.0 25.0

Note. — The three j'ears before 1910 given above for each one of the
Societies, though different in each case, is believed to be fairly representa-
tive of the way contributions came in before the Commission began its
work.

1913.

REPORT OF APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION.

225

cf o 3

HSsO

uf^

:o O) C3 CO o (N

c<jpeq

OCJOO

++ I + I + 11+

W^H

00 00 C0 1-< --; o^ CO --H CO

i6 05 00 S ^ '^j I t"-- 5i '-''

:0 ,— ( iC 2 fM ^ fN S ""^

I + I I I + .+

-^ X' O (N «.0 (M

■3JBJS 31H

i-H ,-( CO 1-1 (N CO CDOO OOOOlCOOOt^ i-H Ir^ iM Tj< Tfi GO

^ Z^ = o > ■

CQ p ■^ 05 lO lO

c<6 <n" o o o c-i

(M (M (M ^ — 1
++ I ++ I

■* t^ CO p -* O ^ '^ o

CO LO CO I o c<i o c^i oi ^

(M coco ■ "'

0-* 00 ^ OTtH

-++ +++ 11+ ++ I + I I

CO <— I O lO >— I Tfi
Ttl<© lO CO (M LO

CO ^^

oooooooooo
oooooooooo
p_ p^ p_ x_^ p^ p_ p_ p_ p^ q^
oc-f i>r,-r cTrC o urf cTo"
lo CO i-i CO i> o o

S2

rt s «>

o o > .
OQ O

a o
a

O.S

S S2

on o

ooo o oo
o o o oo o
oo o o »co

oooooooo
oooooooo
oooooooo

05COiO'*i-<iO 05t>C0»-lO(M00(NC0iC CO'-H'OOlTtiOeOt^

oooooo
o o oo o o
co^^c-i^pci o

(M" lo x" cT Lrf O

th M< "*! a; CO Lo

9& Tf C^

OOi-OirjOOOOOO
o '-': CO c^i o o ic o o o

O^O'XOL-IOC^^O

oooooooo

O O O O O LO o o

O iC X O r-H lO LO CO

C<i 00 C55 CO T-H ,-H

++ 1 + I I

i--;t>.oo>opcoocppp
uoocooic<ic<iocO'*o6

»-H i-H CO Ttl ^ 1-1

++ I +++++ I +

lO^lr^iOioOOO

+ I I II I +

<N p(N oqoq lo
i6 o "o ' CO >-!

I + I I + I

'-;'-;'-;pc<)t^i-ocC'*i-H
iot->I,-H,-Hcd'ocO'-HOco

t^ t^ (M O t^ X LC t^

+ I ++ I ++ I + +111

+ +

X 'ij* Tt* Tj< (M rt<

O LO ■* IC X 00
0^^pOOt>^(N__

—T o r-T ^cT-*"
cococo-H ^ Tti

^ CO --H

T-<t^^05-*(MOX-*05

1^1— it^OXCOiOi-OOOi
O'-HCOt^'-HCsOOCOCO

COt-(02(M05COtH;0
(Ml— iXOSLCOcOO

xoi^McO'-^coco

CO

c^

-3

tc c3 3
, 3— ' '^

a) lC o o3 <» oj

•s ^ 2 § o a

IS

s

rt •'o
Si 2 > ^ O

te- > 0 03 0.2

c3

O o

Q -J M

■QQ

« c3 i g <H g^-s

226.

REPOKT OF APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION.

[1913.

3 o

r! Q ^

oro g

M

o

.9g

CO'-HO I— lO-Hi— I.— I oo

6 o c5 d
(O a> <D <v

U f-i Si l-l

o o o o

+ .: +

is

i:i (J i:i <o o ij a owoooo

O O O o o o o

o o o o o o

go
6«2

00 Iv <© CO

eooco 00

o

d

■«j; ooo

CO rH i-H

fl o > •

o "? P

1 + +

+ %+\

+ +

a

(N»-lOOOO(N'0(Mr-iO»-H(M>-iO

OOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOiOOOOOOiO
l> O (NOOOOCO'-iOOO O (M
'-H'cf'-r.-r Tin'" cfo'oi~0~

OOOOOOOOOOOOO
OiOOOOOOOOOOOO
P^'-H (MOO lO po iCi(M C^CJ^OfO

pt>(NrH»cpoq-^'^p>opp
TjHd-^oJoiiocooJcor-iooic-^

O O lO (M "-H Oi O r-H 00 O >-* t>

ppppoo»ot>pix5pprHpoqco

diO^i-JrjHoilvloioOOOd-^COCO'^
■*(MiO>-H(NrtHCOCOOOI>(MCOOOO(N

r-H CO

OOOOiOiOiOiOOOOOO
OO'+i^'+i^I^t^OOO'OiO
iOCOt^eOOTt<(M^iOO'-i'*'(M

OiOOOiOOiOiOOiOiOOOiOO

ooioococoo(Ma50'-<ooooO'-i

CO (M P^'-< --I 00^ "2 P^ "^ '^ "^O 03 Tt<

as

•opoJcooqcqio^cooopcopiMO
cococDcDiooir^t^-H-^d'Ooocod
'" --■- CO CO CO (N CO ■* o »o »o

1 + I :;+^ I ij: I I

CI O s. .

a, 1-1

cooooqp'-;t--;cqoopcO'#»op
oodr-^oococDcDOiO'-Hoodoo

0(M r-l(Ni-( IM IMt-I>-ICO

+ 1 I I I l + l I 1 + 1 +

1-H CO 1-t <N »0
I '^ I CO

' + ' +

a o > .

6.a°-

t^(Ml>'*l>'^C0C<lpl>'Or)H.-j

T-SoJi-Hcodd'^b-d'-HcocDco

CO T-l (N r-H (M t^

+1 l+l I +++ I + I +

coppp>o»o,-HC5pt>i>i^co^t>.
^lOcDi-HTft^li-Hcbdi-HTt^cocoicco

rH (M i-H CO -^ ^ CO lO 05 t^ 00 (Mi-HCO

1 + I ^ I I +++++++ I I

LOO-*'-<05COTtH-5tl(Nt>03CT)»Ci

OO^C»05iM00C0'HTfO<M00
CO "*! 05 CO CO CO r-i CO CO !>-_■*_ T-H

r-Ti-T c^ ^i^Tr-To

€^ coco CO

(M00»0'-H(NOO(N(M(NICO-*COO
IXN'-HQ-*O505i0C0O00IXMC0O
1-i CO »0 -^ 00 1-H 00 lO Tfi t>. lO CO rH

-►^ o

o

■ 2 «

•^^

1^ ^ WJ wv

o§ 2 fcl fc! i=!.S-rt

P* _id ' — ' I — ' m ^ ^

.S-S.S
.S'S'o

5.2

P O

Jh a; o o

o o

•75 01

U.2.S c3 a c ''^ '•^

>

CO O

m QJ 3

boo t;-2-S w 3 ^ fl a
o a^ "i^.

rt^.2

r^ d fl

a; c; ^

^^^-^ uJ^oj-r: c3o3C^^af -a^i^o^oa^a^-is-^-^SotpS^

1913.]

REPORT OF APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION.

227

Q-0

M ^ o

CO fe -ti

ooc

o

OLOC

(N

CO(M C

1 '7

1

M (M

O

ocq

(M

T-ILO

lO

CO

I>

T-H

(N

*-H

«^

+

o

(NcO'-itq^c^c^joqr^oioeccocqioiMioi-i
ot>^oic36c^ioodt>l;ot^-^GO-*ooi^ioc<icD

TtiOS»J:)OOOOC5CD^>OfClt^Tt<Tt<OCOGOOO(N
"-H 00 M^'^'-l.OC IM^OS OO ■*_Tt< 05 "* t~- --H lO o c^

I-Tcf'-H'eO' r-7 IM" C0~ i-Tt-T

I + I ++ I I + I I + I I I ++ I +

oqi>i-Hi>Tj<T)^cioqp<NroTiHt^(Mooi-ooo

•^iCI^CDCiiOcDaO'^iOrt^MHOiaiOiCOCOt^
1— IC0C5'— il~-iO>C(MCO'^i— iOt^C0005

co'iOi-Ti-T .-T CO ciffN" .-T

I I I ++ I I + I + I + I I ++ I +

i.O(MQ0LOiOQ0t>lOC»<MI>00rOO3'MiOLO00
iOt:^f0(MC^0-;^iOl:^C0Xc0O?M^0000C0

(NCO'+it^^-'tiQOOOOOSCl-^OOCSiOt^OO
CDXt^C^OC5CDC5C5r>.CO(NOOt^t^QOt--

o>ooi-Hooio^TficiOt~-t^r>-ot>.oocooio

tvcor^oOr-Hrc^DiCGC-^rcccoc^c^ixcD

««Gw^c^S^^6oa;.S^^cg'Qe

00

^

228 REPORT ON APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION. [1913.

REPORT OF THE COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON THE
REPORT OF THE APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION.

The first feeling inspired by the report of the Apportionment
Commission is one of disappointment, almost of dismay, at
the fact disclosed that the contributions received under the
Apportionment Plan from 1910 to 1912 show not an annual
gain, but an annual loss ; quoting the salient sentence near the
top of page 218, " The Congregational missionary societies
received in 1912 as contributions that counted on the apportion-
ment a total of $1,217,520, which was $35,852, or 2.9 per cent,
less than in 1911, and $19,239, or 1.5 per cent, less than in 1910."

One's disappointment in reading this is emphasized by the
tables in thesecretary's report, pages 177 and 178: Benevolence
to the societies in 1910, $1,269,409; for 1911, $1,253,372; for
1912, $1,217,520. Grand total of benevolences for 1910,
$2,860,582; for 1911, $2,454,340; for 1912, $2,363,584; and
still more by Table VI on page 179 : Benevolence for the three
years, $7,678,496; decrease from the preceding three years,
$449,678. The two tables at the top of page 178 show that in
1910 the proportion of benevolences to local expenditures was
31.9 per cent; in 1912, 25.4 per cent.

These are startling figures. Have our Forward Movement,
our Together Campaign, and the Apportionment Plan resulted
in no gain, but in a substantial loss?

But on page 221 we read: " Investigation shows that there has
been no period of three years since 1892 when the American
Board, the Home Missionary Society, and the American Mis-
sionary Association — our three largest societies — have been
so nearly free from debt as during the three years covered by
this report."

Your committee felt, as many of you must have felt, that
this paradox required some further stud}^ to uncover the exact
situation.

In the fii'st place, the most startling of these figures, those
showing a loss of nearly half a million dollars between the three

1913.] REPORT ON APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION. 229

years 1907-1909 and the three years 1910-1912 are undoubt-
edly based on an entirely false comparison. Up to 1909 the
figures of benevolences used were those furnished by the church
clerks; in 1910 the figures of the society treasurers were sub-
stituted. This resulted in an immediate apparent loss of $600,-
000, which was chiefly, if not entirely, due to the substitution of
exact figures representing actual cash applicable to the society
budgets for the figures of church clerks, inflated by including
gifts not within the scope of the apportioiunent, and often for
miscellaneous purposes having' no direct relation to our Con-
gregational activities. Besides this, an important fact, going
far to explain what shrinkage is left to explain, is that the great
Together Campaign, by which all debts of all the societies
were wiped out, and some addition made to current receipts,
took place in the three years preceding the triennium which is
now closing. Perhaps the churches could hardty expect to
continue permanently at the level reached by that tremendous
special campaign.

The vital question is: What have been the actual receipts
of our societies from churches and individuals, not only for their
budgets technically so-called, but for all purposes which serve
their general missionary activities? This question we hoped
to be able to answer at this time, but we cannot do so. The
representatives of the societies who are here have not been able
to give us in time for our present use the figures which we desired
in order to make the comparison.

We have been able to get only these partial figures : The total
receipts of our three largest societies, including legacies, indi-
vidual gifts, and all other receipts, and including in the receipts
of the American Board those of the Woman's Boards, were in
1907, $1,889,000; in 1910, $2,112,000; in 1913, $2,136,000;
a considerable gain in the earlier three-year period, during which
the Together Campaign took place, and a slight gain in the
latter three-year period.

Of the three smaller societies, the Church Building Society
says that its receipts for 1912 exceeded those of 1911 by nearly
$35,000; the Education Society reports "a gain of $14,203
over last year "; the Sunday-School Society, " a gain of $6,804
over the preceding year, and of about $6,000. in the last three
years over the preceding three years."

230 REPORT ON APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION. [l913.

Perhaps these imperfect data are sufficient to enable us to
say that there has been from triennium to triemiium and from
year to year a sHght gain.

Why, then, do the reports based on the Apportionment
Plan show a steady loss? Evidently from year to year the
proportion of the actual total gifts which is credited to the
apportionment is growing less.

This may be partly due to the disposition of large givers, as
the apportionment plan becomes more widelj^ known, to send
their checks as personal contributions, and not to offer to their
fellow church member the temptation to neglect their owai duty
because the church's quota has been filled or more than
filled.

But we think it also may be due to an unwise rigidity on the
part of our society treasurers in giving credit on the apportion-
ment only for gifts which exactly apply on the budget in the
technical sense.

If, for example, the American Board, reviewing the demands
made by their several missionary stations, finds it necessary
to omit certain items from its budget because it has not the funds
in sight to meet them, and if afterward the gift of some church
or donor for that precise object enables them to undertake the
work which they would have assumed in the budget if they had
had the money, it seems technical and unfair to refuse credit for
the gift.

We realize the force of the idea that the budget of items
deemed most necessary by the responsible management should
be first met, and donors not encouraged to dissipate their gifts
by supplying less necessary items; but, on the other hand, there
is a great gain in connecting donors with some object in which
they have already expressed a direct and personal interest;
and the implied rebuke to a donor or church which has made a
generous response to some appeal in the direct line of a society's
work by refusing credit therefor, because the item had not been
anticipated in the budget, tends to chill the benevolent impulse
at the source.

We therefore suggest to the Commission on Missions whether
it would not be well to provide that society treasurers credit
under the apportionment plan all funds received by the treasurer
for the direct promotion of the work of the society, and for ob-

1913.] REPORT ON APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION. 231

jects that it would have i)rovided for if it had had the available
funds.

The first recommendation of the Apportionment Com-
mission (page 223). that its work be turned over to the new
Commission on Missions has already been met by the new
constitution.

But the new commission will hardly be able at once to
enter on all parts of its great field; and we think that the
Apportionment Commission and its secretary ought not to
be dismissed from their work at a day's notice, and with no
provision for the work in the interim.

We therefore recommend the passage of the following resolu-
tion:

(1) That the executive cormnittee and the secretary of the
Apportionment Commission be instructed to continue their
work until January 1, 1914; and that the expenses during that
time be paid in the same way as heretofore.

As to the recommendations of the Commission appearing
on page 224 of their report, we believe there has often been
dissatisfaction on the part of church officers because of alleged
errors and omissions in the reports of the benevolences made by
the society treasurers, and that such claims of error have some-
times been well founded, as is inevitable in dealing with so vast
a body of figures. The criticism and hostility to the apportion-
ment plan caused by such occasional errors have undoubtedly
been harmful.

We recommend the adoption of the following resolutions:

(2) That the treasurers of the missionary societies continue
to furnish for the Year-Book the contributions made to their
societies by the churches, and that the secretary, in sending to
church clerks the statistical blanks, no longer ask for the amount
of the church's contribution to the societies' budgets, but ask
for the contributions of the church to other Congregational
objects and to non-Congregational benevolences.

(3) That the treasurer of each society be asked to report to
the treasurer of each contributing church, as soon as possible
after the end of the year, for verification or correction, the
amount which is to appear as the contribution of that church
under the apportionment plan.

(4) That no contributions be credited upon the apportion-

232 REPORT ON APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION. [l913.

ment for any year unless received at the home office or at a
regular district or state agency of the society on or before the
tenth day of January following.

(5) That in sending receipts for individual contributions,
when the donor has not stated whether or not he desires his gift
to be credited on the apportionment of any church, the society
treasurer expressly state that the gift will not be so credited
unless expressly requested by the donor, and ask him, if he
desires that it be credited to any church, to advise the treasurer
of that fact at once.

(6) That contributions from individuals who do not request
such credit to any church be reported in the magazines, not under
the heading of the city from which the gift comes, but only
under the state heading.

The effort made in the early part of this report to ascertain
the facts as to our recent gain or loss in total contributions,
while perhaps somewhat modifying 'the unfavorable impression
likely to be obtained from the secretary's and the Apportion-
ment Commission's reports, can hardly give us great satisfac-
tion. It is well known that the per capita gifts of our churches
to missionary purposes are much less now than a generation
ago, in spite of the greatly increased wealth of our members.
Our societies are largely financed by the dead hand of their
former supporters. That all the special efforts of recent years
have done little more than keep our gifts at the level reached
by the Together Campaign is a result which we can hardly view
with entire contentment.

The sy stern of apportionment is practically complete; the
emphasis must now be in promoting the interest in missions
and the spirit of giving.

Possibly the apportionment plan has done some incidental
harm by emphasizing methods and machinery, and by leading
churches to deprecate the visits of our missionary secretaries
and agents.

If the appeal " to meet our apportionment " wholly super-
sedes the -appeal of the work itself, and if maintaining the
financial credit of the church be the object of our efforts rather
than advancing the Kingdom of God, any temporary stimulus
will soon lose its power.

The need is for knowledge, for education, for inspiration.

1913.] REPORT ON APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION. 233

We think that every minister should do all in his power to
extend the circulation among his people of the missionary
magazines, and we congratulate the home societies on the more
effective appeal that is made b}^ the present consolidated maga-
zine. We think that every minister might very properly give
to his people from time to time, briefly, but with sufficient
detail and emphasis to create interest, the striking events of
current missionary history. Even though the method of con-
tribution by annual or occasional collections be recognized as
inadequate and obsolete, the cutting off of the occasional
address of the missionary secretary is a distinct loss ; these most
important agents of our churches should always find our pulpits
open to them; and if any church does not have the visits of the
secretaries to inform and inspire it, we think the pastor should
himself from time to time present in a definite way the work of
the several societies to his people.

We heartil}^ indorse the reconunendations of the Conmiission
appearing on page 226 of their report, and the additional recom-
mendation made b}' the Commission too late to be printed, and
recommend the adoption of the following resolutions :

(7) That the fundamental purpose of Congregational mis-
sionary policy be the enlistment, first, of every church and, next,
of every church member in a support of the societies that is both
intelligent and adequate.

(8) That the following be recognized as essential parts of
this polic}' :

a. Missionary Education among Adults: to teach our church
members the real value of missions.

b. Missionary Education in the Su?iday-school, with a view to
the church of the future; to be conducted as an integral part of
the religious education which the Sunday-school is designed to
furnish.

c. Apportionment: to provide a way by which the contribu-
tions of each church to the established missionary work of all
the churches may be definite, proportioned, and regular, like the
contributions to its own support.

d. The Every-Member Canvass. To secure not only more
givers and larger gifts, but, what is of far greater importance,
to win through personal contact a permanent increase in the
number of those who know and love the cause of missions.

234 REPORT ON APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION. [1913.

e. The Every-Church Campaign: to visit an entire group of
churches during a given time, under the auspices of the State
and Association Missionar}^ Committees, until ultimately every
church in the nation is reached with a personal explanation of
the foregoing plans and with first-hand information of what is
being done on the field.

/. The system of weekly payments, by envelope or otherwise,
of the contributions pledged.

(9) That the United Missionary Campaign, projected by the
Home Missions Council and the Foreign Missions Conference,
which represent the Missionary Boards of the evangelical
denominations of North America, be approved by this Council
and be commended to the Commission on Missions and to the
state organizations as a providentially available method of
developing in the churches full allegiance to the missionary policy
above outlined.

Especially' in view of the fact that the Apportionment Com-
mission is soon to pass out of existence, we offer this final resolu-
tion :

(10) That the deep gratitude of the churches is due to the
members and to the Secretary of the Apportionment Commis-
sion for their laborious, intelligent, and valuable work in initiat-
ing and perfecting this great movement to secure the intelligent
and systematic support of our societies, and our more adequate
response to the Great Commission of the Divine Master.

Epaphroditus Peck.
Oscar E. Maurer.
James S. Williamson.
H. Grant Person.
Charles H. Kirschner.

1913.1 REPORT OF BROTHERHOOD COMMITTEE. 235

REPORT OF THE BROTHERHOOD COMMITTEE OF
THE NATIONAL COUNCIL.

The Brotherhood, behig fully recognized as the denomina-
tional representative of social service, submits the following
report :

The visitation by the secretary has covered the country,
and group meetings have been held in all the principal cities.
Addresses have been made before state conferences, Y. M.
C. A.'s, and in cities where labor meetings were held. Schools,
colleges, and universities have been visited and addresses made
on the principal subjects of social service. In cooperation mth
the Home Missionary Society, the secretary conducted a series
of social evangelical services in Tampa, Fla. The whole com-
munity was aroused, and as a direct result of the meetings a
new impetus was given the playgrounds movement. In
visitations of army posts, juvenile courts, and factories, and
through cooperation with the Federal Council of the Churches
the Brotherhood has been able to make a substantial contribu-
tion to the work of our churches.

Strength of the Men's Movement within the
Denomination.

One thousand three hundred and eighty of the 6,064 Con-
gregational churches in the United States have their men
organized. These organizations are not of one type, there
being 524 Brotherhoods, 766 Men's Clubs, 114 Men's Bible
Classes, and 75 Men's Leagues. The total membership of
these organizations is 72,518.

The success of the organization is measured b}^ the success of
the local church in making real the gospel of Jesus Christ in
its community. Measured by the usual standard we are safe
in saying that our most successful churches have their men
organized, and that for church efficiency there must be some
organization of the men, with a definite, workable program.

236 REPORT OF BROTHERHOOD COMMITTEE. [l913.

That the ' organizations have succeeded is shown in the
fact that, while the total number of Congregational churches
in the country made a net gain of 4,285, the 1,380 churches
which have their men organized made a gain of 5,289
members. Or, in other v/ords, the 4,684 churches having no
form of men's organizations show a net loss of 1,004 members.
No one can doubt that there is a connection between these
numbers.

The average size of men's organizations within the churches
is 52 members, but a study of the organizations shows that there
are 986 organizations below and 412 above the average size.
To express it accurately, there are 30 organizations having
less than 10 members, 412 less than 25 members, 952 have less
than 50 members, and only 428 have more than 50 members.
So it will be seen that the organization of men is not confined
to the larger churches, some of the most efficient organiza-
tions being in the small churches.

Successful work is being done by the men's organizations :

In Maverick Church, East Boston, special interest is being
taken in the community, and the club is the natural rallying
place for the men.

Pilgrim Church, Dorchester, has an efficient social insurance
plan in operation.

Hope Church, Springfield, Mass., through its men is able to
weld all the community forces into an organization that is doing
many of the things for its community that the Y. M. C. A.
would do were there one in the community.

Hough Avenue Church, Cleveland, Ohio, is training its men
for personal evangelism.

At Westboro, Mass., the men are interesting themselves in
the reform school for boys which is at their door.

First Church, Springfield, Ohio, continues to hold the interest
of its men and put them back of the church work and community
problems through a primary interest in a literary program that
is planned and carried out by the men themselves.

In the New First Church, Chicago, the men are active in
making effective the enlarged plan of the new church with its
splendid parish house.

The First Church, Peoria, through its men's organization,
as well as the men in First Church, Appleton, Wis., are taking

1913.] REPORT OF BROTHERHOOD COMMITTEE, 237

special interest in, and responsibility for, the Sunday-night
services.

At Champaign, 111., the club is interesting themselves in the
social and industrial problems of the community, bringing all
classes of people together.

Plymouth, Des Moines; First Church, Lincoln, Neb.; and
Claremont, N. H., each have groups of men alive to the social
demands upon the church and are active in meeting these
demands.

At Crofton, Neb., the Men's Club is teaching the church to
think in terms of the community instead of in terms of itself
and is successful in promoting community activities of various
kinds.

Plymouth, Oakland, Cal., through its community house, is
meeting the needs of the men and boys of the district so splen-
didlji' that this group of men, and the pastor at their head, are '
recognized throughout all Northern California for their effec-
tive and efficient work.

The men of Central Church, Topeka, Kan., have applied
themselves to the problems of organization and are making
effective the apportionment plan within the church.

Phillips Church, Boston; Pilgrim Church, Oklahoma City;
Westminster Church, Kansas City; and Central Church, At-
lanta, Ga., are especially successful in the department of Bible
study, the men's Bible classes of these churches being worthy
of special notice.

Medina, Ohio, through its men, is attempting to serve a group
of foreign-born citizens who have settled in the community.
And at Central Falls, R. I., under the leadership of Rev. John
D. DingTv^ell, through the Sunday-night theater services, the.
foreign-bom citizens are being taught the true American ideals
and are being given, through the moving pictures and lectures,
glimpses of the great periods of our national history.

Webster Grove, Mo., boasts of a group of men so well balanced
in their interests that they can be depended upon to do any
thing that needs to be done.

At Northfield, Minn., the men, in addition to the work in the
community for community needs, are especially interested in
the problem of the growing boy, and they have secured, a
few miles from town, an island that is being extensively used

238 REPORT OF BROTHERHOOD COMMITTEE. [l913.

by the church for camping, picnicking, and other outing pur-
poses.

Wilmette, 111., has a specially valuable current discussion
class, and Winnetka, another North Shore suburb of Chicago,
continues its efficient work through its community house.

These are but a few of the groups of men who are finding
their place in the church, and through the church finding the
means for the finest service for the community and their fellow-
men. Men's organizations in hundreds of other places are
doing the same.

Widening the Scope of the Work.

The program for labor and cooperation with the labor organi-
zations is pretty well conceded to be worth while, and what has
been done has met with such recognition that the continuance
of the work is warranted. There is, however, more than one
factor to be considered in the present situation. The side of
labor and the side of capital are of less importance than the
common interests of the commimity. The church cannot
afford to ally itself to a partisan fight. Labor leaders, as well
as manufacturers and business men, feel this. The church
stands for men and the things that make men's lives richer.
The church is in the community to make itself stronger, but also
to help improve and build up the whole community life. The
only things we are fighting, and ought to fight, are the things that
impoverish and destroy men, women, and little children. In
the community program we have the sympathy and cooperation
of leading manufacturers. At several places where conferences
were held, the men to whom the new program of justice will
mean the greatest cut in their profits are the men who are
most heartily in sympathy with the movement.

Finances.

The financial problem has been the source of greatest per-
plexity. For two years now the Brotherhood has paid all of
its bills. Through hard effort it has raised money enough to
do its work. But for the $4,800 indebtedness it w^ould have had
a comparatively easy task. It is sheer waste to have to put so
much time and effort on the question of finance. The prob-

1913.] REPORT OF BROTHERHOOD COMMITTEE. 239

lems which the church has asked the secretary to study arc
serious enough and demand all of a man's time without loading
him do\Mi with the added financial burdens.

The Future of the Movement.

There is a growing interest in the program of the Brother-
hood. The churches are coming to feel more keenly their
responsibility in the social movements of our times. In general
the program of the Brotherhood will be :

1. Education.

2. Representation. •

3. Cooperation.

The Brotherhood does not duplicate agencies already exist-
ing; it is not a missionary society; it is not a Bible-study
organization; it is not a commission for evangelism; it exists
to promote all of these ends; it is an agency to cooperate with
all existing agencies in promoting missions, Bible study, and
evangelism among the churches, and primarily among the men
of the churches ; it cooperates with the foreign and several home
missionary societies in bringing their appeal and their literature
to the attention of the men and awakening their interest in
missions at home and abroad. It cooperates with the Sunday-
School and Publishing Society and with the International
Sundaj'-School Committee in cultivating Bible study, in the
organization of men's and boys' classes, and in all means of
furthering the intelligent study and understanding of the
Scriptures. It cooperates with the National Council Commis-
sion on Evangelism in the organization of the evangelistic work
of the churches.

In all these movements it retains its own initiative, and the
local Brotherhood becomes a helpful agent for their promotion.
But its largest service will continue to be in cooperation with
the agencies already existing as they shall jointly endeavor to
enlist the interest and activity of the men of^ the churches.
Along these lines of service it will adjust itself ^to the special
needs of the place and time and will develop in the church a
commanding appeal to men. The Brotherhood expresses the
fullest responsibility of the men of the churches.

In the matter of literature it has published what seemed

240 REPORT OF BROTHERHOOD COMMITTEE. [1913.

necessary for its work and has found it helpful to cooperate
with the societies in putting out literature relating to mis-
sionary causes.

The supreme effort of the Brotherhood is to secure the
best service of every man in his own place, first in his local
church and community, and then for the wider work of the
Kingdom. It is clear that the function of the Brotherhood is:

1. To organize, develop, unify, and inspire the masculine
forces of the denomination. This is to be done by providing
leaders, voluntary and executive, so far as possible, throughout
the nation to serve the men and boys of the churches and
communities.

2. The men's organization in the local church is to be recog-
nized as the unit of value in the national movement through
committees and whatever supervision the national organization
is able to give. The work of the local organization is to be made
strong and effective as a part of the regular program of the local
church. The effort is not to create new machinery, but to
gear up and make effective the machinery that we have already
created.

3. This will be done:

(a) By holding the national convention of the men of the
denomination usually in connection with the annual meeting
of some one of our societies, or in connection with the meeting
of the National Council.

(&) By holding the state convention in each state at the same
time and place with the State Conference of Congregational
Churches.

(c) By holding sectional conventions in conjunction with the
meeting of the local Association,

4. To relate the masculine forces of the denomination to
the great purposes and missionary agencies of Congregational-
ism.

5. To cooperate with other men's movements for the promo-
tion of the kingdom of God in America and throughout the
world.

6. To carry out the purpose and ideals of the National
Council in all matters pertaining to labor and social service.

1913.] report of brotherhood committee. 241

Department of Social Service.

In the department of labor and social service, the Brother-
hood has a service distinctly its own. That service of the de-
nomination has been committed solely to its care and cultiva-
tion. To it is granted the place of denominational initiative
and development. It has become the instrument for the
development of the service of our churches, both in their direct
relation to the claims of the social forces of the day, and in their
cooperative relation to the kindred agencies of other Christian
bodies. The rising tide of the social consciousness, the truer
conception of the church's obligation, the abounding opportuni-
ties for social service and the reflex influence of social evangelism
upon the life of the church itself, all combine to give largest
significance to this department of the Brotherhood service.

In social service the field of the Brotherhood's activity is
growing continually. Its objective here is:

1. To know the principles of social Christianity.

2. To arouse the spirit of social service in our churches.

3. To secure the cooperation of our churches with all other
agencies doing social service work.

4. To outline programs for our churches in their work for
community betterment.

5. To interpret the gospel of Jesus Christ and the new purpose
of the church to industrial workers.

6. To represent the denomination in official capacity at all
meetings where labor and social service subjects are discussed.

It is seeking to realize its objective by the following means:

1. By the discussion of social service problems in public
meetings.

2. Through literature printed and distributed.

3. Through the study course it is offering.

4. By utilization of its speaker's bureau.

5. By presentation of these subjects at the State Conferences
of the churches.

6. By means of conventions and special group conferences.
It has, in addition to the study course which it is offering,

a speaker's bureau, by means of which it can furnish men quali-
fied to speak on any principal topic of social service. These men
are available in most of the states of the Union.

242 REPORT OF BROTHERHOOD COMMITTEE. [l913.

Its picture and slide bureau enables it to offer illustrated
lectures at a minimum cost on such subjects as Child Labor,
Child Welfare, Play Grounds, White Slavery, Tuberculosis,
Temperance, and Immigration.

Its research bureau is at the service of the churches as far
as it is complete. Requests for information are always wel-
come.

Perhaps the best service that the Brotherhood is rendering
is in giving representation of our denomination at all the great
meetings and conferences where labor and social service sub-
jects are discussed. It has been represented by some one of
the organization at practically every important conference of
this kind held during the year.

The secretary is again preparing a social service comment
on each of the Sunday-school lessons for next year. These
will appear in the adult Bible-class magazine published by the
Congregational Sunday-School and Publishing Society.

Conclusion.

The work of the Brotherhood has been committed to us by
the National Council in 1910 and has been carried through
the last three years, and now the problem that faces the de-
nomination is whether or not the organization and its work is to
be continued. The budget need not be large; $8,000 per j^ear is
sufficient to carry on the work for at least the next three years.
There is need for the organization, and no better nor more
efficient means of doing the social service task that is imposed
upon the denomination can be found than for the denomination
to back up the Brotherhood and make its work possible, thus
giving its secretary, freed from financial embarrassment, the
opportunity to develop the work and fulfill the function of the
organization.

Respectfully submitted,

Nehemiah Boynton, Chairman.

AsHER Anderson.

David P. Jones.

George E. Keith.

Lewis A. Crossett.

1913.] REPORT ON CALVIN CENTENARY. 243

REPORT (IN PART) OF COMMITTEE ON CALVIN
CENTENARY.

REV. WILLISTON WALKER, D.D., NEW HAVEN, CONN.
[Translation.]

National Protestant Church of Geneva.

Geneva, Switzerland, December, 1911.

To the National Council of Congregational Churches

IN the United States:

Dear Brethren, — By its letter of September, 1910, the Con-
sistory of our chm-ch informed you that, as a sequel to Calvin's
Jubilee, and wishing to remain in friendly relations with the
churches throughout the world brought forth by the Reforma-
tion, it had constituted a " Correspondence Committee,''^ with the
object of corresponding with all the ecclesiastical bodies which
would consent to honor us with their communications. We
were happy enough to receive from many churches a favorable
reply to that appeal, and several of them have written us very
sympathetic letters. Some have even given us information
as to their organization and their work by sending us printed
papers, such as reports, proceedings of sj^nods, regulations, etc.

The Consistory has received with gratitude these precious
testimonies of Christian brotherhood, and wishes in its turn to
send you two papers concerning our church :

1. A Report by Pastor Genequand on the quadrennial period
just elapsed, a period that has been for our Genevese church one
of the most serious that God has ever called on her to pass
through since the time of the Reformation;

2. A copy of the constitution that our church has given her-
self since the popular vote of June 29-30, 1907, separated her
from the state.

Begging you to accept this modest token of interest, we desire
to tell you again what great value our church attaches to her
relations with other Protestant churches, and how much she
would like to see more generally continued the epistolary inter-

244 REPORT ON CALVIN CENTENARY. [l913.

course already begun. Large or small, strong or weak, our
churches are fighting for the same holy cause, and they will be
much more able to defend it if they succeed in maintaining
among one another the bonds of brotherly intercourse.

We remain, clear brethren, your faithful servants in Jesus
Christ.

For the

CORRESPONDENCE COMMITTEE,
Alex. ClaparJide, President.

Communications, reports, and other documents concerning
the Protestant churches will be gratefully received at any time
by the " Commission de Correspondance," Temple de I'Audi-
toire, Geneve.

1913.1 KBPORT OF CHURCH PROPERTY COMMITTEE. 245

REPORT OF THE CHURCH PROPERTY COMMITTEE.

For nearly fifteen years this committee has been in corre-
spondence with all state bodies of Congregational churches.

It has m-ged the importance of incorporating state conferences
with legal power to receive and administer trust funds, save
the property of abandoned churches, and protect Congregational
church property for Congregational uses.

The committee has no means of kno\\dng to what extent
its efforts have contributed toward the gro"v\ing sentiment in
favor of the incorporation of state conferences and the merg-
ing with them of home missionary societies, the establishing
and increase of trust fmids, and the safeguarding of denomina-
tional property interests.

Each triennial period has seen new incorporations and con-
solidations mitil now a large number of the Congregational
organizations in the stronger states have been incorporated,
and in nearly all the few rem.aining states the matter is under
discussion. In New Hampshire and New York a general ref-
erendum on the question of incorporation is now in progress.

We commend to all the states in which similar action has
not been taken a stud}^ of the New Hampshire report, which
can be obtained by addressing Mr. Joseph Benton, Concord,
N. H. It was prepared b}^ two eminent lawyers after an enab-
ling act had been passed by the New Hampshire legislature.

New Hampshire furnishes a t^^pical illustration of the need
of consolidation. The report says: '' We now have three sets
of machinery to do our common work, and many important
things have to go undone or be done in an irresponsible way
because we have no machinery- to do them, and no united
and concerted action on the part of the machinery we now
have. If we were now at the beginning we certainly should
make the State Conference the one head and center of fel-
lowship and activit}^ and provide for the performance of all
these various functions and any others that need to be done
by one set of responsible oflEicers."

246 REPORT OF CHURCH PROPERTY COMMITTEE. [1913.

The New Hampshire plan proposes incorporatmg the State
Conference at once, and later merging with it the State Home
Missionary Society and the Ministers' Fund.

In Ohio the State Conference was incorporated, the Home
Missionary Society was merged with it, and Ministerial Relief
funds and administration were turned over to the National
Board of Ministerial Relief.

Michigan has recently secured two special laws, one of which
provides that any ecclesiastical society auxiliary to a Con-
gregational church may voluntarily dissolve and transfer
its property to the incorporated church. The other provides
that all property of a corporate Congregational church shall
be held and used for the benefit of said church as a Congre-
gational religious organization, and for no other purpose
whatsoever; except that adult members of a church which
suspends worship may vote to turn over the property to the
State Conference. If a church has held no services for two
years the local association of Congregational churches may
declare it extinct and notify the State Conference, which may
apply to the court for a decree dissolving the church and
taking title to the property in the State Conference.

Iowa has passed a special law mider which the State Con-
ference elects three trustees who may take over unused church
property.

Several states endeavor to make church property security
for home missionary aid. Michigan requires a deed or other
security on the property as a condition of giving aid. In
Minnesota if a church ceases to exist as a Congregational
church the amount of home missionary aid becomes a lien
upon the property. In New York the Home Missionary So-
ciety takes title to abandoned property when possible. In
Rhode Island the Home Missionary Society holds mortgages
on church property and holds titles to nine church proper-
ties. The Washington State Conference holds titles to six-
teen church properties. Ohio holds title to eight church
properties.

The New England churches have accumulated large en-
dowment funds. These are still held chiefly by individual
churches, but the funds held by state conferences, home mis-
sionary societies, boards of ministerial relief, and other organi-

1913.] REPORT OF CHURCH PROPERTY COMMITTEE. 247

zations arc steadily increasing, and there is a marked tendency,
especially among the smaller churches, to make some state
Congregational corporation trustee of the endowment funds of
individual churches. The Maine State Conference has over
$30,000 in these special trusts. Vermont has twenty such
special trusts for local churches, amounting to some $19,000, and
holds other trust funds amounting to nearly $30,000 more. New
Hampshire has thirty-seven special trusts, amounting to over
$36,000, eighteen permanent funds, $79,000, and a memorial
fund of $19,000. In ten years through legacies and gifts its
permanent funds have increased more than $16,000. One
hundred and sixty-two individual New Hampshire churches
have endowment funds of $874,000. Individual Massachusetts
churches have invested funds of more than $2,700,000, the
amount having been increased in the latest reported year alone
by $187,500.

The Middle and Western States are onlj^ beginning to ac-
cumulate state endowment funds.

Iowa has $13,000, in nine permanent funds, seven of which
have come from personal gifts and two from the sale of church
properties.

Ohio has $4,860 in thirteen funds, seven of which have come
from the sale of church properties and others by legacies.

The Michigan fund is devoted to establishing new churches.
It amounts to $4,600 and has come from legacies and the sale
of four church properties.

Most of the states which have endowment and trust funds
report the securities and income annually in detail. Michi-
gan and New Hampshire reports may well be studied as models ;
each fund, its trust conditions and the securities in which it is
invested being given in accurate detail.

Connecticut has been especially a leader in the handling
of trust funds by a state organization. It reports, for the
year ending December 31, 1912, funds held as follows by the
directors of the Missionary Society of Connecticut : Twenty-four
funds for as many churches, amounting in all to $88,709. This
society is a corporation composed of the members of the State
Conference acting through a board of directors chosen by them.
Another separate corporation holds the state fund for minis-
terial relief. Its corporators are also the members of the State

248 REPORT OF CHURCH PROPERTY COMMITTEE. [1913.

Conference, and they elect the trustees, always choosing
the same persons, who are also trustees of the Missionary
Society.

The Euclid Avenue Church of Cleveland has taken a long
look into the future by establishing a number of endowment
funds for special uses connected with its own church adminis-
tration and benevolences, and has arranged with the Cleve-
land Trust Company to have charge of all securities and in-
vestments under the direction of the church trustees. The
Ohio State Conference has under consideration a similar trust
company agreement for the care of its investments; and the
Ohio Women's Home Missionary Union invests its' Memorial
Administration Fund through a trust company.

Plymouth Church, Cleveland, has recently sold its property
and given $100,000 to the Cleveland Congregational Union
in trust for Congregational church work in Cleveland.

We have mentioned only a few states by way of example,
and have not attempted to give a complete history of progress
and present conditions as to church property matters in all
the states.

We renew practically the same recommendations which have
been made in previous reports :

1. That in each state so far as practicable the general state
work of our Congregational churches shall be done by one or-
ganization, preferably the incorporated State Conference, whose
responsiliility shall include the aid of weak churches and the
care of home missionary churches in cooperation with the Na-
tional Society, and the administration of ministerial relief
funds in cooperation with the National Board of Ministerial
Relief.

2. That each incorporated State Conference shall act as
the legal trustee of Congregational endowment funds, and
shall welcome the increase of such funds by gifts and lega-
cies, and shall hold real estate titles in trust for individual
churches when such action seems wise.

3. That each State Conference shall make a detailed list
of all unused church properties, make sales when it may seem
expedient, and use the proceeds as endowment funds for church
work within the state.

1913.] REPORT OF CHURCH PROPERTY COMMITTEE. 249

4. That each State Conference shall have a Church Property
Committee, which shall advise the churches with reference to
the laws affecting church property, shall seek to secure any
needed changes in state laws, and shall assist the officers of the
State Conference in all matters affecting church property and
trust funds.

It is the judgment of your committee that its work can
probably be more efficiently done in the future from denomina-
tional headquarters, and that among the duties of the enlarged
secretaryship may well be included the oversight of these church
propertj^ matters.

In behalf of the Committee on Church Property,

Irving W. Metcalf, Chairman.

H. Clark Ford.

Charles H. Richards.

Hubert C. Herring.

AsHER Anderson.

Frederick Fosdick.

Judge Simeon E. Baldwin concurs in the report except that
he prefers the Connecticut plan of incorporating one or more
state organizations, as explained in the body of this report.

250 REPORT ON CHURCH UNITY. [1913.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CHURCH UNITY.

The resolutions of our last National Council concerning pos-
sible conferences with the Protestant Episcopal Church reached
the General Convention of that communion, which was then in
session, just before their adjournment. They had then made
their notable utterance proposing a World Conference on Ques-
tions of Faith and Order as a first step towards unity; our
resolutions, which had been adopted independently without
knowledge of their proceeding, were welcomed by them as an
immediate and providential response to their o^vn action, and
were referred to the Commission which they had just appointed
to bring about the proposed World Conference. Their Com-
mission promptly invited us to enter into conference with them ;
and from that day until now we have been in continual cor-
respondence and cooperation with them in relation to the great
work of joint endeavor which they have initiated. Your com-
mittee has been intrusted with power to receive for considera-
tion any overtures that might be made from the Episcopal
Church; we accepted accordingly the invitation to cooperate
with them in the preparatory work which they had under-
taken, agreeing with them that any efforts to formulate defini-
tive overtures between the Episcopal Church and the Con-
gregationalists might well be deferred until this larger project
of the World Conference shall have been brought to its fruition.
We esteem it a reason for gratification on our part that the
timely action of our National Council three years ago has thus
enabled Congregationalists to take part in this far-sighted
movement from its inception. We desire to bear witness to the
breadth of view and nobleness of spirit which has uniformly
characterized their counsels with us; in these conferences we
have been lifted far and above the beaten controversial cross-
ways where hitherto they and we occasionally may have met
to exchange passing salutations with one another, and to go
further along our separate ways.

The necessity for patient and thorough preparation for the

1913.] REPORT ON CHURCH UNITY. 251

World Conference has been felt by all concerned, if we arc to
expect ultimate practical results from its convening; if it is not
to issue merely in a Congress of Religion, illuminating perhaps
for the moment differences of opinions, but bringing no practi-
cal agreement towards fulfillment. The hesitancies and delays,
which have been unavoidable, have risen from no lack of gen-
uine determination to follow to the end the way thus opened,
lead where it may; but all have shared the anxiety to avoid any
too hasty and possibly misleading steps at the outset. The
beginnings already gained seem to us to be of the Lord, and
they are marvelous in our eyes. Your committee would re-
port as follows, first concerning the plan and method, secondly
the results already attained, and the next steps now under
advisement in this movement.

As to the method of procedure, it has been realized that we
need to enter upon a series of preparatory conferences, and to
organize a campaign of mutual education. It is desirable that
small groups of representatives of different churches and
views should be brought together at convenient centers for
irenic study of the problems that confront us, and our possible
agreements. It is also desirable that for the helpful guidance
of such efforts and for a better understanding of our differences
and underlying miities of faith, impartial papers should be
prepared by competent scholars, and generally distributed.
This important part of the work — the creating and bringing
within popular reach an irenical, interdenominational litera-
ture, such as modem Biblical and historical studies may supply
— has hardly as yet been undertaken. It is generally recog-
nized that the day of the polemical divine is now past; but
continued and hopeful effort is required to assure people in
general that the hour is coming and is now at hand for the
makers of peace throughout all the churches, and that even
this generation may receive the blessing of the children of God.
From the indifference arising from what to many seems a too
distant and millennial prospect, at this present critical time and
opportunity, the one people of God should be aroused by the
call to unite our Christian forces to overcome the evil of the
world.

Those who have been brought together in the initial develop-
ment of this far-reaching purpose, before difficulties which

252 REPORT ON CHURCH UNITY. [l913.

hitherto have appeared insuperable, reahze profoundly the
need of great humility and mutual patience; they feel that the
present supreme obligation of the reunion of the churches for
the sake of the Christian civilization of the world requires
of all communions a common confession of the sin of continued
disunity and inefficiency. Each Protestant, church may well
make its own this noble declaration of a great Roman Catholic
theologian of the last century, " The mutual confession of
guilt must precede the feast of reconciliation." There will
then naturally follow searching and open-minded inquiries into
the things of vital spiritual value that may underlie our several
beliefs and ecclesiastical polities, which should be conserved
in the Church of the future. We are to learn what truths of
approved worth to others we may receive, as well as what our
history has given us to give to others. In this preparatory
discipline each denomination is to learn what is perhaps the
hardest ecclesiastical lesson, — how to receive as well as to
give.

If we begin by determining what we must or will not give up,
we shall at best attain only an empty compromise, but it will not
be permitted us to enter into some rich comprehension. Not
indeed without sacrificial spirit shall the peace of the churches
be won; but the method of this new venture of faith in the hope
of church unity is a positive and gracious method of both giv-
ing and receiving; so may " all the precious things, both theirs
and ours," be gathered into the fellowship of Christ's Church.
How long this preparatory season of conference and education
shall be necessary before the ultimate convening of the World
Conference, no one at present may say; the date for it has not
been discussed. Not until all things seem ready shall the
final invitations_be sent forth to what we earnestly pray and
devoutly trust may be a marriage supper of the Lamb and His
Church such^as hitherto neither we nor our fathers have dared
to expect. While the World Conference is kept ever before
us as the object of our endeavors, the limits of the present
preparatory work are recognized by common consent; it lies
beyond the province of these Commissions to attempt to
formulate any articles of union or to endorse any definite plan
of interdenominational consolidation. All possible ways of
mutual approach are to be kept open for discussion, and tenta-

1913.] REPORT ON CHURCH UNITY. 253

tive suggestions may well become the subjects for friendly con-
ferences; eventually the providence of God may work for us
some great simplification of our differences and difficulties,
plainer and better than any of us at first may have thought
possible.

The steps in the way thus briefly indicated, which have
already been taken, may be summarized as follows: The
Episcopal Commission, shortly after their organization, set
about the task of issuing invitations to other churches, with
statements of its plan and scope. This necessarily consumed
much time, involving extensive correspondence with repre-
sentatives of different Christian bodies throughout the world.
The extent of this task may be judged from the fact that over
thirty thousand letters have been received at the secretary's
office, more than six hundred thousand letters and leaflets have
been printed and distributed, besides a large and painstaking
correspondence between different members of the several Com-
missions. It is an interesting circumstance that after the
responses from the CongTegationalists and the Disciples, who
simultaneously had appointed committees to seek for unity,
the first response from the Anglican Church came from the
Nippon Sei Kokwai (the Holy Catholic Church) of Japan, and
next from the Church of England in Australia. In this countrj^
the majority of denominations have now made favorable
answers; the number of cooperating Commissions already ap-
pointed is about thirty. Before issuing invitations to the Non -
conformist bodies in Great Britain, it was deemed desirable
by the Episcopal Commission to secure first the assent and co-
operation of the Church of England. This has now been
obtained, and a large and verj'- representative committee of the
Church of England has been designated to represent that church
and to be in readiness to confer with Nonconformists. Invita-
tions have lately been issued to these latter bodies. On May
8, 1913, a decided step in advance was taken in the convening
of an informal conference with the Episcopal Commission of
representatives of other Commissions thus far appointed. At
this meeting a notable offer was made by the Episcopal Com-
mission. They requested us to advise with them in sending a
delegation to England to lay this matter before the Noncon-
formist bodies of Great Britain, and they generously offered

254 REPOET ON CHURCH UNITY. [1913.

to pay the expenses of the delegation. That is itself an act of
peacemaking. The offer was accepted with grateful apprecia-
tion; and a delegation has been appointed who will go soon to
England on this mission.

We quote from the report of the Episcopal Commission their
impression of this representative conference of the principal
denominations in this country, as their words express likewise
our own feeling of its significance. They say:

" Nothing could have been more encouraging than the spirit
and temper of the gathering. There was deep realization of
the difficulties with which this undertaking is confronted, but
the spirit of the meeting was one of courage and hope, and of
faith in the present power of God the Holy Spirit.

'' Questions relating to the proposed conference were faced
and discussed with the utmost candor, but throughout the day
there was not one jarring note, nor was a word spoken in any
spirit but that of Christian fellowship and concord. The
spirit in this meeting was the Spirit of Him who is able to make
men to be of one mind in an house."

At this meeting the following resolution was adopted :

"Resolved, that an Advisory Committee be constituted, com-
posed of one representative of each of the Commissions already
appointed, to be chosen by each of said Commissions, to co-
operate with the Executive Commission of the Episcopal Com-
mission in promoting any preparation preliminary to the work
of convening the World Conference.

" That the Commissions which may be appointed by other
Commissions be invited to appoint representatives on the
Advisory Committee."

At the conclusion of the meeting the following minutes
were adopted as expressive of the results reached in conference
and not heretofore embodied in formal resolutions:

"1. That the true ideal of the World Conference is of a
great meeting participated in by men of all Christian churches
within the scope of the call, at which there shall be consideration
not only of points of difference and agreement between Chris-
tians, but of the values of the various approximations of
belief characteristic of the several churches.

"2. That while organic unity is the ideal which all Chris-
tians should have in their thoughts and prayers, yet the busi-

1913.] REPORT ON CHURCH UNITY. 255

ness of the Commissions is not to force any particular scheme
of unity but to promote the holding of such a conference as is
above described.

"3. That in order that World Conference may have a
maximum value, the questions there to be considered shall be
formulated in advance by committees of competent men rep-
resentative of various schools of thought, these committees to
be appointed at as early a date as is consistent with assurance
that their truly representative character cannot be success-
fully challenged.

"4. That among the subjects for joint consideration by the
Executive Committee of the Episcopal Commission and the
General Committee appointed at this meeting are the following :

"First. What questions must be considered before it can
be decided how the World Conference shall be convened, what
its membership shall be, and when and where it shall assemble.

"Second. How such prior questions can best be considered
and answered.

"Third. How the matters for consideration by the World
Conference shall be ascertained and referred to the committees
which are to study them, and how and when those committees
shall be appointed."

A special report of this interesting and inspiring meeting
will be published.

A meeting of this Advisory Committee is to be held in
November, to perfect measures for further progress during
the coming j^ear.

One encouraging by-product of this work should not be left
unnoticed. At an early preliminary gathering of delegates of
several denominations at the invitation of Dr. Manning, in the
rectory of Trinity Church, New York, your committee met a
committee on unity of the Church of the Disciples. As a re-
sult of subsequent correspondence a conference was held by
us with that committee in April, 1911, in Brookljna, N. Y.
After a full discussion we came to the unanimous conclusion
that there are no differences between us radical enough to pre-
vent the consolidation of our local churches where such union
is desirable; and in a joint letter a practical method of pro-
cedure for such union was set forth. Already several in-
stances have been reported in which this has been accomplished

256 REPORT ON CHURCH UNITY. [1913.

with gratifying success. It seems a striking fact, a manifest
providence, as it eertauily was no forethought of ours, that
this first fruit of the effort for mutual approachment of Episco-
pal and other communions should have proved the beginning of
what we trust may become an affiliation which shall save much
cost both of means and of men between the large body of the
Disciples and Congregationalists. This good beginning was
incidental to the work of this committee; its further prosecu-
tion should be referred to the existing Committee on Federa-
tion and Unity. We commend it to our churches and ministry
as well as all other efforts for working agreements between
churches of different denominations whenever desirable.

As Congregationalists we have justly been accustomed to find
the reason for our denominational existence by recurring to
some of the conditions of primitive Christianity and the com-
parative independence of the early churches before the full
development of the monarchical episcopate. Recent histori-
cal researches into the origins of Christianity have led scholars
to lay emphasis on the fact that the local congregations of be-
lievers regarded themselves as belonging to, and presentations
or evidences of, the one people of God. In the recovery through-
out all churches of the primitive Christian consciousness of the
one people of God lies the hope and the power of the greater
Christianity of this missionary age. Your committee as a
result of these past three years of conferences and hopeful
preparation are profoundly convinced that the opportunity
is opening for this generation, and that the obligation rests
upon us, of achieving a dynamic unity of the churches of
Christ. For the redemption of our home land, and for the
sake of the Christian civilization of the world, a courageous
faith is now called to greet this promise of the Lord.

The words now becoming familiar, " Not compromise, but
comprehension; not uniformity, but unity," may well be our
rallying cry. Intercommunion between all the disciples of
Christ; fellowship in the faith which, through all the ages since
Christ ascended. His Spirit has been showing in the mind of
his Church; and a ministry in His Name so validated and
attested in each communion of believers that without violence
to the scruples of any it may prove acceptable to all, — these
are among the objects to be sought for until they shall be

1913.] REPORT ON CHURCH UNITY. 257

attained in the fulfillment of the Lord's last prayer for the
onenoss of his disciples, that the world may believe on Him.

Your committee would endorse and commend to this Council
these words from the report of the Episcopal Commission to
their General Convention now in session.

" If Christians will gather together in small groups all over
the world, giving themselves to fervent prayer and earnest
effort for a better understanding of each other and for guidance
into the fullest truth, prejudices will disappear, love will dis-
place jealousy, and the desire for reunion will overcome all
obstacles without compromise of truth. Reunion will never
come as the result of negotiations between committees, how-
ever learned and saintly. To be effective, it must express the
overwhelming desire of the members of the one Body of the
one Lord. Doubtless those members of that Body, who do
now rest from their labors, are rejoicing in a measure of unity
which seemed to some of them, at least, while here on earth,
impossible, if not even abhorrent. Let us strive to rise
in some degree with them above the smoke of partisan con-
flicts which have so long and so greatly obscured the Light
which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

" The effort on behalf of this world-wide movement is help-
ing to keep the thought of reunion before the minds of Chris-
tians everywhere; ifc is teaching people to think of reunion as
something that is possible, and to be seriously considered; it is
proposing the one step towards reunion that is practicable at
the present time; and it is, we trust, serving steadily to in-
crease the number of Christians of all names who are desiring
and devoutly praying that the blessed hope of reunion may
be actually realized. The time is ripe for such an effort as
this. Never was there a day, since Christians became dis-
united, when the thought of reunion was so much in the hearts
and minds of men as it is at this moment.

" In all communions, be they called Catholic or Protestant, the
number is daily increasing of those who feel, and say, that the
present estrangements among those who believe in and worship
the one Lord Christ are intolerable, and that they must cease.

" On all hands, believing men and women are realizing more
and more keenly not only the wealoiess and the waste, but the
wickedness, of our present divisions."

258 REPORT ON CHURCH UNITY, [1913.

" After three years of work on behalf of this undertaking, we
reaffirm, with a conviction which our whole experience has
served only to deepen, the declaration made to the Convention
of 1910, in the report as a result of which this Commission was
appointed, ' that the time has now arrived when representa-
tives of the whole family of Christ, led by the Holy Spirit, may
be willing to come together for the consideration of questions
of Faith and Order.' "

We believe more firmly than ever, in the words of that re-
port, " that all Christian communions are in accord with us
in our desire to lay aside self-will, and to put on the mind which
is in Christ Jesus our Lord; and that our one hope of mutual
understanding is in taking personal counsel together in the
spirit of love and forbearance."

More strongly to-day than when this statement was made
three j^ears ago, it is " our conviction that such a Conference
for the purpose of study and discussion, without power to
legislate, or to adopt resolutions, is the next step toward unity."

Your committee would recommend that this Council re-
affirm the declarations of former National Councils concerning
Church Unity; that it commend to the prayers, the sympathies,
and the support of our churches and ministry the movement
now in progress for a World Conference as a first step towards
unity; and that this committee be continued to confer and
cooperate with similar Commissions from other churches en-
gaging in this joint undertaking. As Congregationalists, with
loyalty to the heritage of liberty which our fathers won at great
cost, in fidelity to the ideal of the one catholic Church as de-
clared in our historic confessions and declarations, with open
minds and willing obedience to whatever in the urgencies and
opportunities of these times may appear to us to be the leadings
of the Spirit, we would fulfill our past, and meet in the future
our obligation and part in proving what is the good and perfect
and acceptable will of God for the Church of Christ throughout
the world.

Rev. Newman Smyth, Chairman,
Rev. Raymond Calkins.
Rev. Samuel H. Woodrow.

C. A. GOWER,

Elliott S. Miller,

1913.] REPORT ON COMITY AND UNITY. 259

REPORT FROM THE COMMITTEE. ON COMITY,
FEDERATION, AND UNITY.

During the three years since the last meeting of the National
Council, this committee has held no session. Altho a standing
committee which at other sessions has been able to make reports
of importance, it has seemed necessary during this triennium
to " mark time " and wait for a more favorable season for
forward progress. The principal duties laid upon this com-
mittee have been, in the past, to secure a federation of our
evangelical churches, and to seek corporate union with us of
other denominations. The former task was achieved in the or-
ganization of the Federal Council of Churches, and it has since
been our duty to sympathize with and watch its useful service
to our owTi and other denominations. For the other department
of the work of this committee, that of union with sister denomi-
nations, the season has not been propitious, so far as Congrega-
tionalists are concerned. Since the failure of the National
Council to accept, at the session in Cleveland, the proposals for
union with the United Brethren and the Methodist Protestants,
it has been impossible to resume negotiations with them, as they
have been engaged in negotiations wdth other bodies or with each
other. Further, our own deliberations have been taken up with
our own internal affairs, and until we have settled our own
polity and set our owti house in order, so as to know how we
stand and what we have to offer, it is not convenient to seek
negotiations and agTeements with other bodies. It is only fair
to add that the enlargement in the number of members of this
committee, and their scattered residence, have made it seem
hardly feasible to call the committee together. At the session
of 1907, by consolidation of two committees, the membership
was doubled, and at the last session the members were scattered
over the country, with the purpose of making the committee
more representative, but making its conferences more incon-
venient.

The Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America

260 EEPORT ON COMITY AND UNITY. [1913.

has continued its good work with the cordial support of the
constituent denominations. The very existence of such a fed-
eration of our evangeHcal churches would be its own justification
were this all, for it proves the falsehood of the calumny that
they are a warri^ig rabble of sects without unity in Christ.
The unity is not solely spiritual and invisible; it is visible and
corporate. This is a most important service; and we may
recall that the steps which led to the organization of the Federal
Council of Churches were taken by our National Council. But
the Federal Council is also active in expressing the mind of the
churches on various social and international questions of public
interest, which bear on morals and religion, and is not neglecting
its more vital work in encouraging evangelism and unifying the
religious agencies, especially in the smaller communities, where
denominational rivalry creates sad waste and discourages those
who find the burden of support more than they can well bear.
Union at the top, thru the Federal Council, is of the greatest
value; but it is at the bottom, in the villages and towns
and cities, that union can be made visible to all; and it is
to this work of the state, county, and town unions that we
must look for the full advantage of the combined forces of our
churches.

The other task to which in other years this committee has
given earnest attention has been the union of our own Congre-
gational body with other denominations. It is a remarkable fact
that while no other body of churches has a more genuine desire
for union, not one effort for union with another denomination,
excepting one with a small body of Congregational Methodists
in Georgia and Alabama, has ever been successful. We had
conferences with the Free Baptists and the Christian Con-
nection, and agreements were drawni up satisfactory to the
committees on both sides, but opposition of a few leaders in
the two denominations prevented success. There are always
those who fear something dear to them, dearer than union, will
be lost. Equally the agreements accepted on both sides by
very large committees of the United Brethren and the Methodist
Protestants with a large representative committee of our own
body failed, six years ago, thru opposition within our own body.
It was hoped that those negotiations might be resumed, but
immediately on our action the two denominations entered into

1913.] REPORT ON COMITY AND UNITY. 261

other negotiations which are still going on. After the discus-
sions and decisions shall be concluded in which our denomination
and the National Council are actively engaged affecting our own
polity, it is much to be hoped that negotiations may be resumed
looking towards Congregationalism taking its proper part in
the reducing, by corporate union, the too large number of
denominations; but since our last session the conditions have
not been favorable. Other denominations, Presbyterian and
Methodist, have been active in this Christian service, and
have enlarged their nmnbers; we have lagged behind, and
have not gained our proper relative enlargement. The splen-
did work which has so far been accompUshed in Canada on
the part of the Congregationalists, Methodists, and Presby-
terians should greatly encourage all of us in a greater zeal for
unity.

Since the last session this committee has, thru its chairman,
attended three sessions with the Church Unity Club of
New York. This Club is holding conferences with various
denominations and is seeking to discover on what basis of faith
and order they can unite. As a tentative basis they have
presented an agreement said to have been accepted by commit-
tees of the Anglican and Presbyterian churches in Australia,
and have asked discussion of it by unofficial representatives
selected from the several denominations. At the last con-
ference with Congregationalists there was a failure to come to
any acceptable agreement, as the Congregationalists present
declined to accept a proposal that they assent to a sj^stem
which provided for bishops, or superintendents, one of whom
shall take part in the ordination of all ministers, and three of
whom should serve in the consecration of every new bishop.
This appeared to our representatives to create an episcopal or-
der superior to the order of ministers, and foreign to our Congre-
gational belief in the parity of the clergy, and still more to our
belief that the minister is simply a member of the Church of
Christ who has been chosen by the people as their representative
to teach and guide. It was with sympathy for our brethren of
the Protestant Episcopal Church who so earnestly long for union
but are by their o\\^l divisions prevented from allying themselves
as a body with the Federal Council, and with real regret, that
the seven CongTegationalists who in an unofficial capacity

262 REPORT ON COMITY AND UNITY. [1913.

attended this conference were unable to come to an agreement
with their Episcopal brethren.

Sometimes the best that can be done in an important move-
ment is to wait for more favorable conditions. Such appears
to have been the case of late with the work of this committee.
It reports thru its chairman that the work of federation is being
carried on actively by the Federal Council, and that the process
of uniting separate denominations is gathering strength else-
where, but has not been active with us during the past three
years. But it is Christ's own cause and we cannot doubt that
Congregationalism, which has over and over again pledged
itself in its favor, will yet take its full part in healing the divi-
sions in the Church of Christ.

Respectfully submitted,

William Hayes Ward, Chairman.

Rev. Eli AS B. Sanford.

Rev. Jean F. Loba.

Rev. John H. Lucas.

Rev. Burton W. Lockhart.

Rev. J. T. Stocking.

Rev. Francis J. Van Horn.

Rev. Frank E. Jenkins.

Rev, Homer W. Carter.

Rev. Joseph H. Chandler.

Rev. Charles M. Sheldon.

Frank D. Taylor.

Hon. Edward M. Bassett.

We cannot close our report without a reference to the great
loss sustained by us in the deaths of two of the members of
your committee, Pres. Alfred T. Perry and Rev. J. W. Brad-
shaw, than whom none were more interested in the promotion
of church unity.

1913.] REPORT OP COMMITTEE ON INCORPORATION. 263

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON INCORPORATION.

To THE National Council of the Congregational
Churches of the United States:
The Corporation of the National Council of the Congrega-
tional Churches of the United States and the Special Committee
on the incorporation of such a corporation, join in submitting
the following report:

Shortly after the acceptance and approval by the Council, at
its Boston session, in 1910, of the special charter granted in 1909
by the General Assembly of Connecticut, entitled as " Incorpo-
rating the Corporation for the National Council of the Congre-
gational Churches of the United States," namely, on November
25, 1910, due notice of this action and a copy of the votes of the
Council constituting such action were filed by the Secretary of
the Council with the secretary of Connecticut, and such other
papers were executed as were necessary to perfect the in-
corporation.

A meeting of the Corporation for the National Council of
the Congregational Churches in the United States was then
duly warned, and held in the Capitol at Hartford, on March 9,
1911, and its organization duly perfected.

By-laws for the Corporation were adopted as follows:

Article I.

The annual meeting of the Corporation shall be held at such place and
time as may be designated for any year by the President of the Corpora-
tion; and he may call special meetings in like manner.

Article II.

Five members shall constitute a quorum at meetings of the Corpora-
tion, or four members in case one of them is the President of the Corpora-
tion and another the Secretary of the National Council of Congregational
Churches in the United States.

264 REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON INCORPORATION. [1913.

Article III.

An Executive Committee of three of the members of the Corporation
shall be elected at the first meeting of the Corporation, who shall hold
office until the next annual meeting, and until their successors are chosen.
Said committee shall represent the Corporation in such matters as the
Corporation may especially intrust to it, and, in general, act for the Cor-
poration in its ordinary business.

Article IV.

The Treasurer shall give and renew, from time to time, a bond with
surety satisfactory to the Executive Committee, which shall be kept by
the President in his custody. The Treasurer shall receive, manage, and
pay out all monies of the Corporation and receive and hold its property
and render an annual account on or before January 31, of his doings
during the preceding calendar year. He shall pay out no money exceeding
one hundred dollars ($100.00) at any one time without the written approval
of the President, or the chairman of the Executive Committee.

Article V.

The President shall annually appoint one or more auditors to audit the
Treasurer's accounts.

Article VI.

The seal of the Corporation shall be a circle inscribed, " Corporation
for the National Council of the Congregational Churches of the United
States^ chartered, 1909."

Article VII.

These By-Laws may be amended at any meeting of the Corporation
by a vote of four fifths of the members present.

The following officers were elected : For First Vice-President,
Simeon E. Baldwin; for Second Vice-President, T. C. Mac-
Millan; for Secretary, Asher Anderson; for Treasurer, H.
Edward Thurston; for the Executive Committee, John H.
Perry, George W. Brush, Asher Anderson.

It may be noted that under the resolutions of the Council
adopted October 15, 1910, the Moderator of the Council is
ex-officio President of the Corporation; the term of office for the
elected officers shall be for one year and until their respective
successors may be chosen ; and that said corporation shall make
to the Council, at each of the regular meetings of the Council,
a full report of its doings since the preceding meeting of the
Council.

1913.] REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON INCORPORATION. 265

It was further voted at said meeting at Hartford that the
Provisional Committee of the National Council be requested to
classify the members of the Corporation as to terms of service,
after the foUo'wing manner : Eight members to serve for the term
of three years, and seven members to serve for the term of six
years; and that the matter of providing a seal for the corpora-
tion be referred to the Executive Committee; and that copies,
of the doings of the meeting be sent by the Secretary to the
members of the Corporation and to the members of the Pro-
visional Committee.

Such copies were duly sent.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

Simeon E. Baldwin,
Chairman of the Special Committee on Incorporation,
and Vice-President of the Corporation for the National
Council of the Congregational Churches in the United
States.

Asher Anderson,
Secretary of the Corporation for the National Council
of the Congregational Churches in the United States.

Hartford, November 29, 1912.

Subsequently a meeting of the Corporation was held on April
9, 1913, in the Governor's Room, Hartford, Conn., at which the
follovdng business was transacted:

The chairman of the Executive Committee, through the
Secretary, reported the preparation and purchase of a seal for
the Corporation, after the manner of the legend adopted at the
previous meeting of the Corporation.

The Treasurer, H. Edward Thurston, Rhode Island, reported
to the Corporation that he had given bond to the amount of ten
thousand dollars ($10,000) to the United States Fidelity and
Guaranty Company, dated April 7, 1913, wHich bond had been
approved by the Executive Committee.

No classification of the members to determine their terms of
office having been made by the Provisional Committee of the
National Council, and the Council having given the members
of the Corporation authority to classify themselves, it was
therefore determined by lot that the members should be classified

266 REPOKT OF COMMITTEE ON INCORPORATION. [l913.

and serve as to time after the following manner : For three years
ending November 25, 1913, Simeon E. Baldwin, John H. Perry,
Thomas C. MacMillan, H. Edward Thurston, Edwin H. Baker,
William B. Cogswell, Alfred Coit, J. S. Libby ; and the following,
whose terms shall end November 25, 1916, Charles W. Osgood,
Dr. George W. Brush, Frederick G. Piatt, Epaphroditus Peck,
William H. Cathn, J. P. Bates, William M. Parsons.

The following officers were elected: First Vice-President,
Simeon E. Baldwin; Second Vice-President, Epaphroditus
Peck; Secretary, Asher Anderson; Treasurer, H. Edward
Thurston.

The following were elected members of the Executive Com-
mittee: John H. Perry, Dr. George W. Brush, Asher Anderson.
Respectfully submitted,

Asher Anderson, Secretary.

1913.] REPORT OF EVANGELISTIC COMMITTEE. 267

REPORT OF EVANGELISTIC COMMITTEE.

It may be frankly stated at the outset that in no field of
church work are the average pastor and layman more perplexed
than in the field of evangelism. This is due undoubtedly to the
lack of definition, or rather, perhaps, to the readjustment of the
definition to a radically changed mind on the whole subject.
Whatever may be one's estimate of the change through which we
are passing, the change is here and it must be faced. The old
kind of evangelism is either passing or suffering a serious eclipse.
To some it is an evidence of the decay of faith - — to others it is
merely a changed form, while the essence is still with us. Many
of our ministers and pastors feel reluctant to enter into coopera-
tion with the mass-revival. Many of our leaders are expressing
their doubt of the permanent value of such revival meetings.
There are two very apparent reasons for this:
First, the mission of the church has become more socialized.
The church has seen her mission as not to the individual alone
but to the whole social life. It has begun to see that while its
business is to seek and save the lost woman and restore her to
life, yet if it will deal at all with the problem, it must go back
into the causes economic and moral which push so many thou-
sands of them into the stream. The church knows that her
business is to save the boys and girls, but she also realizes that
it is folly to play the uneven game of trying to rescue a few
children for the kingdom of God in heaven while the kingdom
of anti-Christ on earth saps their lives in mill and tenement.
The mission of the church is to the whole of life. Everywhere
are public -^Tongs and social injustices which vitally affect the
soul welfare of the very men and women and boys and girls we
would save, and if the church is to save men at all it must go
back into the causes which unsave them. Most ministers have
seen that it is not optional with them whether or not they will
enter this social field — the very logic of their work compels them
to enter and take part in the social struggle in which large
numbers of their people are enlisted and on which hangs not

268 REPORT OF EVANGELISTIC COMMITTEE. [1913.

only their material but spiritual welfare as well. Neither men
nor organizations are always able to keep their perfect balance
when feeling runs high and the emphasis is being laid on any one
phase of human activity, and it is not surprising that this social-
izing of the mission of the church should have eclipsed its
mission to the individual. The church will never again be as
blind to its social mission as it has been in the past, but the
time now is when in every pulpit and every classroom the call
to the neglected field of the individual must be heard. In this
industrial and social strife which now absorbs so much of our
energies and time, we may well cry out with Stonewall Jackson
in the terrible war of which he was so much a part, " 0 God,
bring quick victory to one army or the other. 0 God, settle
this cruel warfare and send us back to our homes, to our God-
given purpose of winning men to Jesus Christ." And Jesus
was right when he saw that the shortest route to the regenerated
society is through the regenerated individual.

The second reason for the distrust of the revival is the modern
commercializing of evangelism. When one remembers the
spirit of sacrifice of Mr. Moody, and how continually he refused
to profit by his success, but turned every dollar back into the
work of the Master, and refused to employ the modern method of
raising collections, and then compares the modern revivalist
leaving the city with his private pocket well crowded with cash —
one feels that evangelism has fallen on different if not evil days.
We do not mean to include all in this indictment — there are
many faithful and true. The proposition was made to your
committee to employ evangelists, but we have felt that we could
not send men out unless their salaries could be guaranteed and
the opportunity for commercialism removed, but the guarantee
funds were not in hand. Your committee feels that it cannot
condemn in too strong terms the spirit of money maldng
wherever it has crept into modern evangelism.

A great cause is at stake — a cause which from Pentecost to
Mood}'" has been the means of ^vinning millions to Christ, and
which we believe will again come to its otvti rightful divine
mission.

But, whatever may be the reason for this distrust, there can
be no doubt of the great and pressing need of greater evangelism
in our Congregational churches.

1913.1

REPORT OF EVANGELISTIC COMMITTEE.

269

Your committee at the cost of much time has made a survey
of our church from the Year-Book of 1911, and desires to submit
the followdng table for the perusal of the delegates from the
different states.

state.

Alabama

Arizona

California (Northern) ,
California (Southern) .

Colorado

Connecticut

Florida

Georgia

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

North Dakota

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Porto Rico

Rhode Island

South Dakota

Tennessee

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

West Virginia

Washington

Wisconsin

Wyoming

a

o

to

•M

o

u

■a

•3

■<

a

o

J-,

:>

^

a

o

38

1

28

14

12

121

25

20

8

93

10

99

39

8

9

124

209

106

67

24

11

87

95

6

2

81

15

4

90

16

20

47

2

11

83

9

4

103

1

1

38

117

4

1,822

■<.^

Pi

Per
Cent.
49
12
21
13
13
36
46
74
29
27
24
33
23
66
31
47
30
33
29
34
19
42
51
12
40
21
27
02
36
26
35
41
22
25
41
31
40
48
25
50
21
44
11

6a

11

a o

1,057

16

1,136

293

489

8,797

918

702

212

7,015

565

6,312

2,044

153

281

4,831

11,233

5,846

2,988

1,935

278

3,003

4,470

468

36

4,974

403

80

6,349

336

579

2,664

21

1,348

2,165

356

77

5,307

43

55

688

3,917

41

647

25

1,700

704

673

9,726

1,139

572

544

7,911

496

6,064

2,255

282

364

3,939

16,209

9,108

4,645

1,687

523

4,085

5,379

744

25

5,793

577

126

6,879

845

968

2,853

96

1,392

3,688

403

318

8,659

0

95

1,683

5,629

75

95,360 106,427

270 REPORT OF EVANGELISTIC COMMITTEE. [1913.

In the state of Massachusetts we found that 209 churches had
no additions on confession of faith. These churches had 11,233
resident members and there was at hand a fruitful field of 16,-
209 Sunday-school members. In addition, we found 53 churches
each of which had only one addition on confession. These 53
churches had an aggregate membership of 5,998 nnd in their
Sunday-schools 8,033 and on the average not over 30 per cent
of these were in the church. Nothing but lack of evangelical
zeal, lax and indifferent leadership, and utterly careless Chris-
tian stewardship can account for 17,231 church members
bringing only 53 into the church on confession when there were
24,322 Sunday-school members at hand.

We have secured surveys from most of the states. We find
that many states have no evangelistic committees, while most
of the state programs find a large place for the subject before
their annual conventions. Recent reports seem to indicate a
decided improvement. Ohio reports large accessions due to the
special work of Mr. Sunday and Mr. Lj^ons. Most reports show
a quickened sense of the opportunity for evangelism through
the regular organizations of the church. Some show a most
encouraging advance over other years. In the state of Massa-
chusetts we find that only 170 churches report no additions on
confession of faith in 1912 — the lowest for the last ten years,
the number having reached as high as 209 in 1911. The total
number added on confession was 3,951, a number not exceeded
but four times in twenty-eight years. This has been true in the
face of a decrease of 1,140 in the Sunday-school enrollment and
of 640 in the Christian Endeavor.

During the period of your committee's work we have witnessed
the movement Icnown as the Men and Religion Forward Move-
ment, — a movement in which members of your committee took
prominent parts. Whatever may be said about the movement
itself, it must not be overlooked that no such organized and
incisive emphasis upon the work of men for men can fail to
produce great results in the church. We have no doubt that
the additions to many of the churches are an expression of this
result. Men have been revived and have received a quickened
sense of responsibility which is needed more than anything else
to-day in our churches.

During the past three years we have seen added emphasis

1913.] REPORT OF EVANGELISTIC COMMITTEE. 271

placed on the evangelism through the educational work of the
church. The Pilgrim Press has issued a number of splendid
pamphlets on the subject which are available for the use of our
churches and ought to be in the hands of every pastor and
every Sunday-school teacher in our country. It is significant
of the trend of our modern religious thought that our publication
society should have put before us so many significant messages
on the evangelistic opportunity of the Sunday-schools.

Your committee, in reviewing the work of the years and
scrutinizing the work of this committee, finds itself in the midst
of many questions. The work of the committee ought to be
more clearly defined. If its duty is really to enter into the work
of furthering evangelistic meetings and sending out evangelists,
then some provision should be made for its work by the National
Council, or it ought to merge with some other organization which
can finance it. Your committee sent out many letters to the
leading churches for funds to carry on its work. The response
furnished us enough for the simple clerical work we have found
necessary. We could undertake no forward work, nor could we
even send out such helpful literature as the Presbyterian Board
has done to its ministry and churches. If a committee on any
subject is worth appointing by the Council, it is worth furnishing
enough money by the Council to defray at least its necessary
working expenses. Perhaps the work of this committee ought
to be merged with either the Home Missionary Society or the
National Brotherhood. We would recommend to the Council
that the matter be taken under immediate advisement.

The things which your committee have not done are innumer-
able. The things your committee desired to do but found itself
unable to do for lack of funds are also innumerable, but a few
things we have tried to do. We have tried to have the work of
evangelism presented in every state program through the years.
We have had printed a series of articles in our denominational
papers on different phases of evangelistic work. Conferences
have been held in different places upon this subject.

We rejoice in all the upward movements of the Spirit of God
in Social Welfare, and for the quickened consciences of men in
human need, and for the revival of political morality and the
uplift of statesmanship from a monetary to a humanitarian and
even spiritual plane, but we must never forget that all social

272 REPORT OF EVANGELISTIC COMMITTEE. [l913.

welfare must ultimately depend on the regenerated individual.
There is no hope of any permanent solution of our problems in
mere legislation, — the only hope is in the Spirit of God moving
men to repent and become sons of God. The kingdom of God
on earth will come just as fast as men become the sons of God,
and the Church through evangelism is the only agency so far
devised for doing this work. Let it be done by personal contact ;
let it be done by educational labors through the already estab-
lished organizations of the church; let it be done by the divine
relationship established between pastor and people ; or let it be
done by the specially trained evangelist endowed by a special
outpouring of the spirit of God, — we only pray that it may be
done, and the churches may be quickened to a realization of
their supreme mission, — the saving of souls.

Rev. George L. Cady, Chairman.

Rev. Ernest Bourner Allen.

Rev. A. Z. Conrad.

Rev. Jesse Hill.

Rev. Neil P. McQuarrie.

Rev. G. Glenn Atkins.

Rev. Harry C. Meserve.

Rev. John S. Penman.

Fred B. Smith.

1913.] DELEGATES TO FEDERAL COUNCIL. 273

REPORT OF DELEGATES TO THE FEDERAL
COUNCIL.

REV. SHEPHERD KNAPP, WORCESTER, MASS.

The Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America
is now nearly five j'ears old. Its first meeting was held in Phila-
delphia in December, 1908; its second in Chicago in December,
1912. It is, what its name indicates, a federation, that is, a
form of practical cooperation between the different denomina-
tions of which Protestant Christianity is composed. It is not
at all an attempt to unite organically these denominations, nor
does its characteristic work consist in preparing the way for
such an attempt in the future. On the contrary, it is under-
taking the definite, practical, present-day task of helping the
denominations to work together in those parts of the great
work of Christianity which clearl}^ demand united rather than
divided effort.

Into this Federal Council thirty-one of the Protestant de-
nominations of America, representing more than fifteen million
individual American Christians, have entered. The member-
ship of the Council at its meetings is made up of duly accredited
delegates from these denominations. Our Congregational
delegates have been designated by the National Council.

The spirit of cooperation which has been clearly manifested
in the meetings, and the practical cooperative work which the
Council has already done, prove that it is really accomplishing
what it has set out to do. In it we see the highly encouraging
sight of these many branches of the Christian Church deliberat-
ing together, and together planning a cooperative campaign in
relation to such great interests of the Kingdom as religious
education, social service, temperance, family life, Sunday
observance, evangelism, missions, and peace and arbitra-
tion.

274 DELEGATES TO FEDERAL COUNCIL. [1913.

The meeting a year ago in Chicago profoundly impressed the
Congregational delegates by its remarkable spirit of Christian
fellowship and by its evident purpose to proceed to the practical
carrying out of its principles. The eleven commissions on as
many leading departments of Christian activity provide for
the active continuance of the work which the Council from time
to time inaugurates. The stationing of a secretary at Wash-
ington, D. C, as provided by the Council at the last meeting,
will enable the great group of denominations which the Council
represents to speak on all matters of general Christian interest
with a force and effectiveness never before possible.

In all the work of the Federal Council from its beginning,
Congregationalists have borne a prominent part. No other
denomination has exerted or is exerting a stronger influence
upon the Council's work. In the financial support of the
Council the Congregational churches ought to take the full
part proportionate to their own importance as a denomination
and to the importance of the work of the Federal Council.

In the apportionment among the denominations the Con-
gregational churches have been asked for S750 a year, which
fairly represents their share. This, according to the plan
in use up to the present, has been raised bj^ means of ap-
peals sent out by the secretary of the National Council to
churches having a membership of three hundred or over. These
churches have been asked to make contributions of from five
to twenty dollars. Any deficit has been made up by drawing
upon the treasury of the National Council. This has cost the
Council, on an average, about one hundred and fifty dollars a
year, during the four years 1909-1912.

It is recommended:

(1) That the Council express its strong confidence in the
importance of the work of the Federal Council, and urge the
churches to contribute to its support.

(2) That in raising the amount apportioned to the Congrega-
tional churches, namely, seven hundred and fifty dollars, the
plan already in use, outlmed above, be continued.

(3) Inasmuch as the Federal Council depends, for its main-
tenance, upon the generous gifts of individuals in addition to
the sums asked from the denominations as a whole, it is further
recommended that the National Council express its belief that

i^^l^-i DELEGATES TO FEDERAL COUNCIL. 275

by making gifts for this purpose indivulnnl (^
-II render an important sLfee to ^n^^^^^^^^^

Henry A. Atkinson.

William E. Barton.

C. E. Burton.

F. T. Rouse.

Roy B. Guild.
Asher Anderson.
Joel S. Ives.
OzoRA S. Davis.
W. T. McElveen.
E. Lee Howard.
George B. Waldron.
H. C. Herring.
Shepherd Knapp.

276 REPORT OF THE INDUSTRIAL COMMITTEE. [1913.

REPORT OF THE INDUSTRIAL COMMITTEE OF THE
NATIONAL COUNCIL.

The National Council at its session held in Boston, October,
1910, voted to request the Congregational Brotherhood to
assume the function of executive agency for the churches in all
matters pertaining to labor and social service. In pursuance
of these instructions the Brotherhood elected Rev. Henry A.
Atkinson, of Atlanta, Ga., as Secretary of Labor and Social
Service, to serve the denomination in this capacity. Under
his leadership the department was organized, and the record of
its activities is presented in the report of the Committee on the
Brotherhood,

The Council in thus recognizing social service as a denomi-
national function is in line with the advanced movements of the
other denominations :

The Baptist churches have added to their Board of Publica-
tion a Secretary for Social Service and the Baptist Brotherhood;
the Protestant Episcopal Church has established a Social
Service Commission, through which the diocesan and parish
social service commissions cooperate and report to the General
Convention; the Presbyterian Church has added to its Home
Missionary Board departments of rural life and labor; the
Methodist Episcopal Church has adopted the Methodist
League for Social Service as an official agency of the General
Conference, with a secretary of its own; the Methodist Episco-
pal Church South, through its Woman's Missionary Society,
has prosecuted vigorous social work; the Roman Catholic
Church has organized a Federation of Catholic Societies and a
Social Service Commission for the whole body of churches, with
a national secretary and headquarters; the Canadian Baptist,
Methodist, and Presbyterian churches have recently appointed
social service commissions with two or more secretaries; the
British Protestant churches have greatly developed and feder-
ated their Brotherhoods.

1913.] REPORT OF THE INDUSTRIAL COMMITTEE. 277

That this purpose of the National Council may be carried out
more effectively, the Committee on Industry recommends:

1. That the standing committees of the Council on Industry
and on the Congregational Brotherhood be discontinued and
their functions combined 'under a new standing committee, to
be known as " The Commission of Social Service and Men's
Work."

2. That the Commission of Social Service and Men's Work
of the Congregational churches be appointed at this session of
the Council, the Commission to consist of nineteen members,
ten of whom shall be appointed by the Council and nine by the
following national societies: One by the American Board of
Commissioners for Foreign Missions, one by the joint action of
the Women's Foreign Missionary Boards, and one each by the
Congregational Home Missionary Society, the Women's Home
Missionary Federation, the Congregational Sundaj^-School and
Publishing Society, the American Missionary Association, the
Congregational Education Society, the Congregational Church
Building Society, the Congregational Board of Ministerial
Relief. These commissioners shall be appointed to serve until
the next session of the National Council.

3. An executive secretary shall be chosen by the Commission
who may attend and participate in the discussions of the Com-
mission, but shall not be entitled to vote.

4. The function and scope of the Commission shall include
the promotion of the following objects, in cooperation with the
local churches and associations, the state conferences and na-
tional societies :

The propaganda of the Christian ideal of social relation-
ships, industrial and community welfare;

The promotion of the study of local conditions and the
suggestion of ways to improve them;

The furthering of good citizenship among the constituency
of the churches and their cooperation with public, private,
educational, social, and religious agencies;

The effort to make this work of the churches for the com-
munity tributary to the spiritual life and power both of the
community and the churches.

5. That the National Council request the National Brother-
hood, in the interest of efl&ciency and simplicity of organiza-

278 REPORT OF THE INDUSTRIAL COMMITTEE. [1913.

tion, to commit to the Commission of Social Service and
Men's Work the functions heretofore exercised by the na-
tional organization of the Brotherhood, and that the Com-
mission continue to recognize the local and state Brotherhoods
as most efficient agencies for promoting the welfare of men.
And further, that the Commission encourage and foster the
organization and work of Brotherhoods in the local churches.

6. That the National Council recommend to the churches
the raising of at least eight thousand dollars annually for the
purpose of enabling the Commission to fulfill its denomina-
tional functions by the employment of a capable executive
secretary and by other means; and that as a recognized agency
of the churches the Commission for Social Service and Men's
Work be included in the apportionment plan, as the surest and
most feasible way of securing this amount,

7. That the Commission- shall report to the next session of
the National Council such changes in, or substitutions for, the
foregoing plan as may be suggested by experience.

8. That the Commission be expected to cooperate with
the Social Service Commission of the Federal Council of the
Churches of Christ in America in all matters requiring inter-
denominational expression and action,

Graham Taylor, Chairman,
Daniel Evans,
Charles S. Macfarland,
Peter Roberts,
Owen ■ Lovejoy,
Washington Gladden,
Bayard E. Harrison,
Edward E. Steiner,
Carlos H. Hanks,
The National Council Industrial Committee.

1913.] REPORT ON RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 279

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON RELIGIOUS EDU-
CATION TO THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CONGRE-
GATIONAL CHURCHES FOR THE TRIENNIUM
ENDING OCTOBER, 1913.

For various reasons, the chairman of the committee ap-
pointed in 1910 at Boston, as well as those next in order of
appointment upon the committee, found it impossible to under-
take the responsibility of the chairmanship. The fifth member
of the committee became the acting chairman, and as such
presents this report.

No fully attended meeting of the committee has been held.
The chairman has had consultation with individuals and, at
several times, with subcommittees. Otherwise the work of
the committee has been done by correspondence.

The chairman of the committee has represented the denomina-
tion at the sessions of the Religious Education Association,
and also as a member of the Federal Council's Commission on
Religious Education and of the Sunday-School Council of
Evangelical Denominations.

Your committee has had three purposes in mind :

(1) To carry out the instructions of the National Council as
embodied in the recommendations presented by the former
committee in 1910 and approved by the Council.

(2) To carry forv\^ard such lines of work, in cooperation with
the educational agencies of our own and other denominations,
and in harmony with the growing ideals of scientific religious
education, as might be found practicable.

(3) To interpret the present situation and tendencies in our
denominational life, and to present to this session of the Council
recommendations which should be in harmony therewith, and
so provide for the most normal and permanent development in
this important phase of our work.

In carrying out the instructions of the Council as recorded on
page 293 of the minutes of the 1910 session, directing the com-
mittee to secure the appointment of corresponding committees

280 REPORT ON RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. [1913.

in each state conference and district association, the chairman
carried on an extensive correspondence with the state confer-
ences and local associations for the purpose of securing such
appointment. Experience showed that this could better be
accomplished through the office of the Educational Secretary
of the Congregational Sunday-School and Publishing Society,
and also that the recommendations of the last committee with
reference to teacher training, the standardization of Sunday-
school, etc., could wisely be committed to the same office, thus
preventing duplication of effort and securing close expert
supervision. Accordingly, all correspondence with reference
to these matters was turned over to Secretary B. S. Winchester,
and for more than a year he has had these matters in charge.
It is a pleasure to call attention to the ability and constructive
leadership which has marked his work. Your committee is
also greatly indebted to him for willing cooperation and wise
suggestion along many other lines.

The last committee reported upon the provision by the
International Sunday-School Association for the publication
of a graded course. During the past three years text-books and
teachers' manuals have been published for a full twelve-year
course. These International Graded Courses, or other graded
courses, are in use in an increasing number of schools. In the
preparation of this material our Educational Secretary and
other Congregational leaders have had a prominent part. In
this connection attention is called to the exhibit prepared for
this session by the Sunday-School Society.

Progress has brought new problems. The Sunday-School
Council, at a meeting in Dayton in January of 1913, adopted
resolutions suggesting that the International Graded Lessons be
subject to revision under denominational auspices, and that the
construction of courses of study for adult classes, and of new
courses of graded lessons, be left to the initiative of the de-
nominations, singly or in combination. Feeling that this
matter was one of great importance, the committee appointed a
subcommittee, composed of Oscar C. Helming, D.D., chairman;
Charles E. McKinley, D.D.; Prof. Irving F. Wood; Prof.
Frank G. Ward; Prof. Edward P. St. John. This committee
was asked to review the entire lesson situation in our denomina-
tion, in order to ascertain:

1913.] REPORT ON RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 281

(1) What courses of study for use in Sunday-school and
church are now available and can be recommended to our
churches ;

(2) What further courses, if any, are desirable (and to desig-
nate what types of courses these should be: that is, for what
ages and conditions we need to provide) ; and

(3) To give their judgment as to what will be the best way to
provide for this responsibility in the future: whether by a
permanent lesson commission, responsible to the National
Council, or by the Committee on Religious Education itself, or
through some national society to which the National Council
will delegate this responsibility.

The report of this subcommittee follows, and is made a part
of this report to the National Council.

REPORT OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON RELIGIOUS EDUCATION.

To the Committee on Religious Education of the National Council:

Your subcommittee, appointed to ascertain (1) what courses of study
for use in Sunday-school and church are now available, and can be recom-
mended to our churches; (2) what further courses, if any, are desirable;
and (3) to give their judgment as to what will be the best way to provide
for this responsibihty in the future, begs to report as foUows:

A careful survey of the field of religious and moral education as repre-
sented in the local church with its Sunday-school, its young people's
societies, mission classes, woman's associations, brotherhoods, etc.; as
represented, further, in academies, colleges, and universities; and a review
of the courses of study now available, and the policy and methods pursued
in providing for the needs of religious and moral education in our denomina-
tion, suggest the following observations:

1. The lesson courses now available reflect a wide range of effort to
supply the needs of reUgious education as that need is interpreted by
various individuals, and by denominational and interdenominational
agencies. They include the International Uniform Lessons, still most
widely in use; the various graded series, such as the Bible Study Union
courses now pubhshed by Scribner's; the Keedy courses, the courses pub-
lished by the University of Chicago Press; the new International Graded
series; and many special and supplementary courses for young people and
adults, some of the best of which are published by our own Pilgrim Press.

These various courses represent a development from the simple desire to
teach the Bible in uniform lessons to all ages of pupils, to the more complex
task of providing reUgious and moral training by means of graded material
suited to the age and advancing needs of pupils from the youngest to the
oldest, including pupils in Sundaj^-schools, mission study classes, brother-
hoods, Y. M. C. A., academies, colleges, and universities.

282 REPORT ON RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. [1913.

2. While these courses represent an actual and worthy development
toward a more complete system of religious education than has existed
in our Protestant churches in past generations, much still remains to be
done to achieve the definite and thorough results which so important a
field as that of religious education demands. The type of training which
shall develop the religious nature of the child ; which shall guide our growing
youth to convictions leading to religion as a personal experience in adoles-
cence, and to apply the religious impulse to life problems from youth to
old age, — this type of training requires methods more thorough and con-
sistent than now prevail in the average church and Sunday-school.

So far as lesson material is concerned, there is as yet no one set of courses
which covers the whole field. It is not the purpose here to specify in
detail what such a set of courses should include, but merely to suggest the
lack of completeness which constitutes one of the chief elements of con-
fusion characteristic of the management in most of our Sunday-schools.
The chief lack is in courses on personal religion and fundamental truths to
be used with pupils of adolescent age who are to be won to church member-
ship and to aid in the process of finding wise expression for rehgious con-
victions and beliefs in maturer years; in courses which cover in simple and
effective ways the history of the Christian church and of our own denomi-
nation; in courses which provide definite and interesting instruction in the
organization and polity of Congregational churches, and the purpose and
administration of their missionary and benevolent enterprises. While
there are numerous books and lesson courses on Biblical reHgion, history,
and literature, the young people from our churches who go to college and
university are still found to be extremely ill-informed upon the contents
of the Bible and the causes from which its literature and its teachings
grew, indicating that we are yet far from having found effective means
for training our youth in such subjects. There is wide demand, e. g., for
a course on Hebrew history as good as the best American histories used in
the day school. In the preparation of courses, note should also be taken
of the difference between rural and urban conditions; there is great lack
of courses dealing with the social and religious problems of country life,
courses which should be prepared by persons who know the conditions at
first hand.

3. The conclusions suggested" by a study of the conditions prevailing"
in our denomination, as in most other Protestant bodies, is the lack of
a sufficiently well-defined and comprehensive policy by which the ma-
terials of religious and moral education may be supplied, and the local
churches guided to a more effective use of their opportunities. The future
strength of our churches will be determined very largely by the use they
shall make of educational methods to reach the young, interpreting the word
education in its broadest sense in this sphere to include the type of evangel-
ism which shall succeed in winning a much larger percentage of our youth
to rehgious faith and to permanent church membership than has been the
case in the past.

We note the good progress which has been made since the appointment
of an Educational Secretary in connection with our Sunday-School and

1913.] REPORT ON RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 283

Publishing Societj', whoso wise and untiring eiTorts have brought a new
stimulus into many churches the country over, and under whose planning
new material and more effective methods have rapidly come to the front.
To support such efforts as these, and to provide for a systematic and con-
tinuous policy of religious and moral education in our denomination, we
recommend that the National Council appoint a Permanenl Commission
on Religious and Moral Education, whose fimction it shall be to continue
a careful study of the whole field under such divisions as Bible Study,
Missions, Social Life, the Family, the Home Church, Teacher Training,
and the Training of Lay Leaders of Education ; to provide for new courses
of study where these appear to be needed, and to keep in touch with the
local churches in order to further by every means within its power the
interests of reUgious and moral training in our denomination. We suggest
that this commission consist of from twelve to fifteen members, chosen
with a view to theh special fitness for the task. They should be selected
for overlapping terms so as to provide for continuity.

It appears that a large proportion of the best talent which has been ap-
phed to the field of rehgious education has been developed within our own
denomination. It remains to find more direct channels to make this talent
available to the largest advantage of our local churches and to the de-
nominational agencies which publish and distribute the materials of re-
ligious education. Such a commission as that now recommended would
broaden and render permanent the functions already committed to the
National Council's Committee on Religious Education. A similar com-
mission, appointed by the Northern Baptist Convention three years ago,
has, by the assured results and the recognized value of its work, established
its position as a permanent agency of that denomination, and may be
instanced as a concrete example of what can be accomplished by such a
measure as is here proposed.

Oscar C. Helming, Chairman,
Chas. E. McKinlet,
Irving F. Wood,
Frank G. Ward,
Edw. p. St. John,

Committee.

The last Commission approved the proposed appointment of
an Educational Missionary Secretary. No definite action has
been taken upon this matter during the triennium. Cor-
respondence was had with representatives of our Congregational
Missionary Societies, and it was learned that this matter is
under consideration by a joint committee, but that no final
action would probably be taken until after this session of the
Council. That there is a growing demand for such an Educa-
tional Secretary is indicated by the fact that the committee
has received resolutions from the Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota,

284 REPOET ON RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. [l913.

Iowa, and Oklahoma Missionary Unions, urging such appoint-
ment.

Your committee recommends :

(1) That the recommendation of the subcommittee be
approved as follows: "That the National Council appoint a
permanent Commission on Religious and Moral Education
(see recommendation above). ..."

It is suggested that this Commission take the place of the
Committee on Religious Education as appointed by the last
three Councils. It is also suggested that the Nominating
Committee, in making nominations for this Commission, if
its appointment is ordered, consider the advisability of including
as members the Educational Secretary of the Sunday-School
Society; the Joint Missionary Secretary, if one shall be ap-
pointed; representatives of the Missionary Societies; repre-
sentatives of the educational field in colleges and seminaries,
together with representatives of the church at large.

(2) That the Council again indicates its approval of the
appointment of an Educational Missionary Secretary. Inas-
much as the action taken by the Council upon the report of the
Commission of Nineteen will have an important bearing upon
future action, we do not at this time offer any suggestion as to
the manner in which said secretary shall be appointed, but
refer the matter either to our missionary societies in conference,
or to such commission on missions as may be constituted by
this Council.

Respectfully submitted,

Edward I. Bosworth.
Mary G. Woollby.
James A. Blaisdell.
Samuel T. Button.
J. Percival Huget.
William A. Bartlett.
George S. Rollins.
Charles L. Morgan.
J. H. T. Main.

1913.] REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON TEMPERANCE. 285

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON TEMPERANCE.

One hundred years ago, the Congregational Association of
Connecticut, at its annual session at Sharon, adopted the
following resolutions :

" The Central Association of CongTegational Churches of
Connecticut, taking into consideration the undue consumption
of ardent spirits, the enormous sacrifice of property resulting,
the alarming increase of intemperance, the deadly effect on
health, intellect, and family, society, civil and religious institu-
tions, and especialty in nullifying the means of grace and de-
stroying souls, recommend:

" 1. Appropriate discourses on the subject by all ministers
of Association.

" 2. That District Associations refrain from ardent spirits at
ecclesiastical meetings.

"3. That members of churches abstain from unlawful vend-
ing, or purchase and use of ardent spirits where unlawfully
sold: exercise vigilant discipline, and cease to consider the
production of ardent spirits a part of hospitable entertainment
in social visits.

" 4. That parents cease from the ordinary use of ardent
spirits in the family, and warn their children of the evils and
dangers of intemperance.

" 5. That farmers, mechanics, and manufacturers substitute
palatable and nutritious drinks, and give additional compensa-
tion, if necessary, to those in their employ.

"6. To circulate documents on the subject, especially a
sermon by Rev. E. Porter and a pamphlet by Doctor Rush.

"7. To form voluntary associations to aid the civil magis-
trate in the execution of the law."

This notable action of our Connecticut Association in 1812
makes it appropriate that this session of our National Council
should be, upon the question of temperance reform, a centen-
nial aimiversary. Your committee would call attention to the
interesting and dramatic circumstances attending this historic

286 REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON TEMPERANCE. [1913.

event. The use of ardent spirits had become well-nigh uni •
versal. It was the common beverage of everj^-day use by all
classes of people. The appeal of Dr. Benjamin Rush, who had
published in 1804 the first scientific warning against its use,
had produced little effect. Intemperance, with all its baneful
issues, — poverty, disease, and crime, — had been a rapidly
swelling tide. At last the churches were beginning to realize
the sin and shame involved, and in 1811, the Connecticut
General Association, meeting at Fairfield, had appointed a com-
mittee to make inquiries and at the next Association to report
measures to remedy the evil. The Massachusetts General
Association, the same year, had done likewise. During the
interim, two local ordinations were held at Plymouth and
Goshen, at which the drinking had been excessive. As was
customary, the liquors were provided by the society. A broad
sideboard at the parsonage was covered with decanters, bottles,
sugar, and drinking glasses. As the delegates could not all
drink at once, they waited their turn like customers at the mill.
One attendant at the Pljrmouth ordination testifies that the
" sideboard with the spillings of water, sugar, and liquor, looked
and smelled like the bar of a very active grogshop," and he
further certifies that " the smoke from the pipes was so great
that you couldn't see, and the stories and jocose talk reached
the maximum of hilarity." After both these ordinations some
members of each local society complained because the expense
for liquors was so great. One of the clergymen was so alarmed
and indignant that he registered a silent vow before God that
he would never attend another ordination of that sort. When
the Association met in 1812, notwithstanding such conditions,
the committee appointed to consider the question reported that
intemperance had been increasing in a most alarming manner,
but that after most faithful and prayerful inquiry they were
obliged to confess they did not perceive that anything could
be done. Instantly, the minister who had made his vow was
upon his feet. It was the Rev. Lyman Beecher. He earnestly
moved " that a committee of three be appointed to report at this
meeting the ways and means of arresting the tide of intem-
perance." The motion prevailed. The committee was ap-
pointed with Dr. Beecher as chairman. The following day
they made the report which Dr. Beecher, near the close of his

1913.] REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON TEMPERANCE. 287

life, declared was the most important paper he ever wrote.
In addition to the ringing resolutions already quoted, the com-
mittee vigorously deprecated the do-nothing policy and urged
that ministers and laymen should " neither express nor in-
dulge the melancholy apprehension that nothing can be done on
this subject; a prediction eminently calculated to paralyze
exertion and become the disastrous cause of its owti fulfill-
ment."

" Had a foreign army invaded our land to plunder our prop-
erty and take away our liberty, should we tamely bow to the
yoke and give up without a struggle? If a band of assassins
were scattering poison and filling the land with widows and
orphans, would they be suffered, without molestation, to extend
from year to year the work of death? If our streets swarmed
with venomous reptiles and beasts of prey, would our children
be bitten and torn to pieces before our eyes, and no effort made
to expel these deadly intruders? But intemperance is that
invading enemy preparing chains for us; intemperance is that
band of assassins scattering poison and death; intemperance is
that assemblage of reptiles and beasts of prey destroying in our
streets the lambs of the flock before our eyes.

" To conclude, if we make a united exertion and fail of the
good intended, nothing will be lost by the exertion; we can buc
die, and it will be glorious to perish in such an effort. But if,
as we confidently expect, it shall please the God of our Fathers
to give us the victory, we may secure to millions the blessings
of the life that now is and of that which is to come."

This tremendous report, of which only an abstract has been
given, most radical and revolutionar}^ in its day, marked an
epoch in church activity for temperance reform. It was
thoroughly discussed and adopted; a thousand copies were
ordered to be printed. The proceedings were full of zeal and
earnestness. As Congregationalists, we may cherish justifiable
satisfaction that this report, adopted by our Connecticut
Association upon that June day in 1812, stands among the
earliest and most potential documents of the great temperance
reformation. Let Lyman Beecher tell of the immediate results :

" All my expectations were more than verified. The next
year we reported to the Association that the effect had been most
salutary. Ardent spirits were banished from ecclesiastical

288 REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON TEMPERANCE. [1913.

meetings; ministers had preached on the subject; the churches
generally had approved the design; the use of spirits in the
families and private circles had diminished; the attention of the
community had been awakened; the tide of public opinion had
turned; farmers and mechanics had begun to disuse spirits;
the legislature had taken action in favor of the enterprise; a
Society for Reformation of Morals had been established; and
ecclesiastical bodies in other states had commended efforts
against the conunon enemy. The experience of one year had
furnished lucid evidence that nothing was impossible to faith.
From that time the movement went on," says Dr. Beecher,
" by correspondence, lectures, preaching, organization, and
other means, not only in Connecticut but marching through
New England and marching through the world. Glory to
God!"

In view of the fact that such a forceful influence in behalf of
sobriety was set in motion at our Connecticut General Associa-
tion in 1812, your committee suggest that we may well pause
in the midst of this National Council, first held after a completed
centennial period, and at the opening of our deliberations on
behalf of this important reform, gratefully to recall the fidelity
of our Congregational forebears in thus striking with courage
and faith such an heroic and effective blow for this noble reform,
and reverently to give praise and thanksgiving to Almighty
God for the inspiration of his Holy Spirit thus manifested in a
permanent work of grace so auspiciously begun.

And now, fathers and brethren, while we set up our centennial
pillar and memorialize in our grateful thought the loyal devo-
tion of our ancestors to the temperance cause, your committee
would respectfully bring to your attention the urgent call for
action of the present day. A century of sacrifice and service
has passed. Mighty campaigns have been waged of moral
education and legal suasion. Public sentiment has grown to the
point where the drink habit has become disreputable. The
drink traffic is a condemned institution, — the edicts of science,
industry, education, legislation, and religion are against it.
Your committee, after a careful review of the conditions relat-
ing to this reform, believe that the time has come when Faith
utters a call for the massing of all the forces of righteousness for
an aggressive Forward Movement against the liquor traffic.

1913.] REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON TEMPERANCE. 289

Look for a little at the conjunction of events which burnish
the horizon wath prophetic gleams : Already the saloon has been
tried in the balance of general public opinion and found wanting.
Business of all kinds demands sobriety in employees. Of the
railroads this is especially true. Their rule forbidding their
employees to enter the saloon or to drink, whether on or off
duty, gives us a million and a half of sober men. Many of the
other corporations do the same. The employers' liability law
makes it an economic necessity that no chances of accident
from drink be taken. The Pullman Company and the rail-
roads for the most part have eliminated intoxicants from their
dining cars. Likewise the attitude of life insurance companies,
mutual benefit associations, all secret and fraternal orders,
leaders in athletics, and the testimony of judges and prosecutors,
are all helping in the building of stern temperance sentiment.
Many of the newspapers and the best magazines refuse to
accept liquor advertisements. Three generations of school
children in many of the states have been taught the evil effects
of alcoholic beverages, and God has so blessed the efforts of that
prophetess of our own church, the late Mary H. Hunt, that the
truth is now taught the pupils by law in every state in the
Union. Millions have been enrolled for total abstinence in
recent campaigns. The aroused Christian women of the land
have become, during the last quarter of a century, strongly
fortified and are a persuasive and persistent force for sobriety
and against the saloon; wherever the ballot has been placed
in their hands, they have become a new ally of helpfulness in
the legal conflict against the traffic. A political party, with
prohibition its main issue, has kept its standard afloat upon the
ultimate goal toward which all the forces are now hastening.
The leaders of organized labor, too, are taking firm ground upon
this question. One of the officers of the American Federation
of Labor has well said: " The saloon does not produce a thing
which is a benefit to the human race. It is a non-producer and
must be supported by those who work. Every man and woman
should be against the liquor traffic from start to finish. I am
speaking to the wage workers, but it may be applied to everj^-
body." The rapidly growing sentiment in the United States
has both inspired and been strengthened by the world-wide
progress. Switzerland forbids parents to give liquor to their

290 REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON TEMPERANCE. [1913.

children. France has a National Commission which has re-
ported that alcohol is degenerating the nation, and large post-
ers are now displayed to warn the people against its use.
England is doing the same kind of educational service. In
Italy the Commission on Insanity warns the nation that the
wine traffic is filling the insane asylums. The German people,
led by the emperor, are organizing strongly for sobriety. New
Zealand and Australia are rapidly moving toward complete
suppression of the traffic, and national prohibition already is
achieved by Finland and Iceland. In the midst of the quick-
ened public sentiment which these and other influences have
formed and fostered, the liquor traffic has been brought before
the Congress of the United States and the state legislatures,
and all these bodies have passed restrictive and some of them
radically repressive legislation. This traffic has been summoned
to the bar of the courts, national and state, which have every-
where decreed that it is such an instigator of evil that it has no
inherent right to existence and the people may regulate or fully
prohibit it, with no basis of claim upon its part for redress or
compensation; and the first local judicial announcement has
been made of what is certain to be, some day, the law of the
land, that so great a peril to the public health, safety, and
morals cannot be licensed nor permitted by state or nation.

In the present imposing correlation of events, there are two
important factors your committee especially would emphasize.
One is The Unification of the Various Churches in Active
Service in this Reform. Forty years ago the churches were
widely divided upon questions of doctrine and methods of
Christian work. At that time they could not have been in-
duced to unite effectively upon any such moral reform.
Twenty-five years ago the Evangelical Alliance called the
leaders of the various church bodies together at Washington to
consider the question of " Cooperation in Christian Work."
A nineteenth century Pentecost of blessing came upon that
earnest gathering, and upon the churches themselves, and a
greater unity has since been achieved. Until twenty years ago
the temperance reform, because of the partisan character of the
methods then in vogue, was shut out of the pulpits and churches.
But in the fullness of time, upon May 24, 1893, a new inter-
denominational and interpartisan method was adopted at our

1913.] REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON TEMPERANCE. 291

CongTegational college center at Oberlin, which, after due
consideration, has been accepted as a bond of union in the
conflict against the drink traffic. Practically all of the Prot-
estant bodies are cooperating in this Anti-Saloon League
movement, several archbishops and bishops of the Catholic
Church have given their sanction, and the vigorous and in-
fluential Catholic Total Abstinence Union, with its 100,000
temperance men and women, are our allies in the conflict. The
churches of all sects and creeds have furnished the leadership,
opened their pulpits for drilling the militant soldiery, and con-
tributed from their treasuries to provide the sinews of war.
This league, organized in every state, now employs, on behalf of
the churches, more than seven hundred persons devoting their
entire time, and as many more part time, to the reform, and
the expenditures for education and war have for several years
been more than a million dollars a year. The denominational
bodies themselves also now have their standing boards or
committees on temperance, and through the plan proposed by
the Federal Council of Churches at Chicago last December,
these committees are to be united in a National Temperance
Commission to carrj^ forward such educational service as they
may unite to perform. This new activity and federation of the
churches is the most promising of all the signs of hope which
illumine the sky.

There is also another essential factor in the coming triumph
of our temperance enterprise. We are blessed at last with A
Harmonious Unison of the Sections of Our Nation. The
extermination of the liquor traffic is a national problem. Much
has been done by faithful fighting in localities, and a few states
have held the fort for a long period. But it is hard to enforce
the law in a prohibition locality or state when surrounded by
territory which permits the sale of liquor. The final battle
must be fought out upon the national arena. Rent and dis-
tracted as we sectionally were during the nineteenth century,
such a united and simultaneous effort for sobriety in all parts
of the country as is now under way had to be postponed until
another national dispute was settled. That difference has been
brought to an end. Out from the shadows of sectional rancor
and strife we have emerged, as one of our southern orators
has said, " with the blood pulsing in veins unclotted by a single

292 REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON TEMPERANCE. [1913.

bitter memory." And God has given us already a patriotic
task which has cemented our pacification. As the Highlanders
forgot Culloden and the Irishmen the Boyne, and leaped with a
common patriotism to uphold Britain's conflict against Na-
poleon at Waterloo, so forgetting Vicksburg and Gettysburg
the men who had worn the gray joined the men who had worn
the blue, and clad in the new and neutral khaki uniform, led
by Miles and Shafter from the North, and Lee and Wheeler
from the South, to the thrilling mingled melodies of " Yankee
Doodle " and '' Dixie," God sent us forth together to bear the
banner of our united republic of liberty and to set it far in the
van of the moral forces of the world. The recent demonstra-
tion at Gettysburg was the most glorious event the world has
yet witnessed of the reconciliation of hostile armies. It seals
a lasting bond that

" No more shall the war cry sever,
Nor the winding rivers be red,"

but linked by united sacrifice and inspired by the need of a
common strife against the nation's fiercest foe, we may now move
forward as comrades to this new and noble civic triumph.

Note what the joint endeavor of the harmonious sects and
sections of our nation has accomplished at Washington during
the last decade. Congress has been induced to cleanse both
wings of the Capitol building from the parasite of the saloon,
and has abolished liquor selling at all immigrant stations and
soldiers' homes, and other government property. The saloons
have been expelled from the army posts of the country, and
they have gone never to return. Then Congress, by one of the
noblest legislative acts of modern times, has built and equipped
at each army post a recreation building for the physical and
moral comfort of the soldiers, at a cost of more than three
millions of dollars, the largest sum of money ever expended by
any government for substitutes for the saloon. By the action
of Congress with reference to Indian Territory, Oklahoma
was brought in as a free state and a half -million dollars have been
expended for the protection of the Indians in the western
states from the lawless drink peddler. The climax of national
legislation was reached when, in the closing days of the last
Congress, the Webb-Kenyon interstate liquor shipment bill

1913.] REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON TEMPERANCE. 2915

was passed over the President's veto in the Senate three to one
— 63 to 21 — and by a vote of 57 more than the necessary
two thirds in the House. These and many other items of nation-
wide legislative action, coupled \\^th the united and urgent
service of the church and temperance agencies in the various
states, have so far carried the abolition of the saloon trade
that there are now nine states, namely, Maine, Kansas, North
Dakota, Georgia, Mississippi, Oklahoma, North Carolina,
Temiessee, and West Virginia, which have passed state-wide
prohibitory laws, and with the exclusion of the saloon in the
other states, townships, villages, cities, and counties, the
legalized traffic has now been banished from seventy-two per
cent of the geographic area of our country, upon which reside
more than forty-six millions of people !

Your committee further deem it of high significance that
the organized movement which has hastened these recent vic-
tories, led by the Anti-Saloon League of America, has now
culminated in a definite forward program. A national con-
vention will be held next month at Columbus, Ohio, to which the
local churches and other temperance bodies have been invited
to send twenty thousand delegates. At this interdenomina-
tional, interpartisan convention, representatives of all phases
of political and temperance methods will unite together in the
discussions and in the action which is contemplated. This
convention and its anticipated outcome are based upon the call
for the " next and final step " in congressional legislation, sent
forth bj" the national trustees of the Anti-Saloon League, a copy
of which, with a request for official cooperation of our Council,
has been received by your committee. This tocsin call for
action lays emphasis upon the defenseless character of the traffic,
its menace to the republic, the substantial headway now made
against it, the hopefulness of the proposed method, and the
opportuneness of the time; and, sounding a clarion appeal
" to every church, to all organized philanthropies, and to ever}-
individual of every race and color, who loves his country and his
kind, to join in this crusade for a saloonless nation," solemnly
declares dependence for success upon the same Leader who com-
manded Moses to " speak to the children of Israel that they go
forward."

Your committee have thus rehearsed the conjunction of

294 REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON TEMPERANCE. [l913.

potential and dominating facts which clearly show the " stars
in their courses " fight against the liquor infamy. In this time
of urgent necessity, in the light of clearly exposed and opportune
details, upon che great trestle-board of infinite purpose, we may
discern a definite and beneficent design of Almighty God for
the speedy elimination of another great evil from our world;
and simultaneous with its banishment, because of the fidelity
of His church to this call to social duty, have we not the right
to expect God may accompany the exorcising of this satanic
infamy with the greatest Holy Ghost revival the world has ever
seen?

Your Temperance Committee therefore recommend that as
a church we signalize this centennial of the temperance awaken-
ing of our New England Congregationalists by our official endorse-
ment of the movement for An Amendment of Our National
Constitution Prohibiting the Manufacture ant) Sale,
the Importation and Exportation, of Intoxicating Bever-
ages throughout the United States. In order that this
issue be carried steadily to success, it is needful that a persuasive
educational campaign be systematically organized and propa-
gated. For this reason your committee will recommend co-
operation in such plans of instruction as may change individual
habits and public sentiment and rapidly bring up the majority
of the voters of the republic " to the help of the Lord, the help
of the Lord against the mighty." And as a fitting appeal
to the God of our fathers for the ultimate and complete triumph
of this cause, we close our centennial report in the language of
our New England poet of humanity:

" Oh, make Thou us, through centuries long,
In peace secure, in justice strong;
Around our gift of freedom draw
The safeguards of Thy righteous law;
And, cast in some diviner mold,
Let the new cycle shame the old! "

Suggested Resolutions.
Be it resolved:

1. In view of the aggressive movement for temperance reform
begun by the action of our Congregational churches at the

1913.1 REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON TEMPERANCE. 295

General Association of Connecticut in June, 1812, the results of
which have been so influential for good in New England and
the nation, we make, at this our first triennium after the com-
pleted one hundred years, our centennial observance and record
of that important event. We unite to offer our profound thanks
to Almighty God that his Spirit directed the hearts of his people
of our faith and order, under the inspired leadership of Rev.
Lj-man Beecher, to stand at that early daj'' so firmly for so-
briety and against the ravages of the liquor traffic, and so wisely
to promote the genesis and spread of the temperance reforma-
tion at the beginning of the past century.

2. We felicitate our brethren of other fellowships upon
the progress which has been made by the joint effort of Chris-
tians of the various sects and seo+ions against the domination
of alcohol, and especially upon t .. recent rapid advancement
in moral sentiment and anti-saloon legislation. We rejoice
in the ratification of the state prohibitory amendment by West
Virginia by so powerful a majority, the passage by Congress of
the Webb-Kenyon interstate liquor shipment bill, the Jones-
Works District of Columbia bill, the repeated official appoint-
ment, bj" our govermnent, of delegates to the International
Anti-Alcoholic Congress, and the protection by the government
of the Indians against the evils of strong drink.

3. In furtherance of the spirit of interdenominational comity,
we hereby direct our standing committee on temperance to
cooperate with the other church temperance committees in the
Federal Council of Churches for the formation of a National
Temperance Commission and for the fostering of such educa-
tional work as may be agreed upon by the constituent com-
mittees of that commission.

4. We renew our historic declaration in favor of the " utmost
restriction and earliest suppression of the beverage liquor
traffic," and rejoicing in the progress which has been made in
united organization and in anti-liquor public sentiment, we
now declare our approval of the plan to initiate at once a
definite campaig-n to secure an amendment to the National
Constitution prohibiting forever the manufacture, sale, im-
portation, exportation, and transportation of intoxicating
beverages throughout the United States. In view of the neces-
sity of the most pervasive and urgent educational movement to

296 REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON TEMPERANCE. [1913.

make possible and efficient such an amendment and the statutes
for its execution, we urge the largest possible support of all
temperance agencies and hearty cooperation in the following
methods of temperance service as recommended by the Federal
Council of Churches:

"1. The local churches of our order to be affectionately
urged to utilize, to the fullest extent possible, the temperance
lessons in the Sunday-school and temperance literature for the
young.

"2. The cooperation of pastors and people in securing the
introduction into the day schools of all grades of such text-
books as will make plain the effect of alcoholic intoxicants upon
body and mind, the results of scientific investigations, and the
relation of the traffic to pauperism, ignorance, and crime, and
the wide dissemination of Y rature in all languages upon these
subjects.

"3. The preaching from our pulpits of solemn warning
against the use of intoxicants, the condemnation of the rental
of property for saloon purposes, the signing of applications
for license, the endorsing of bonds of liquor dealers, the voting
in favor of saloons in the community, or otherwise abetting
this most serious evil.

"4. The continuation and expansion of a nation-wide cam-
paign of temperance pledge signing by young and old, and this
Council would heartily commend the example of officers of our
government who are total abstainers from the use of intoxi-
cating liquors."

Respectfully submitted,

John Faville, Chairman,

Frank G. Smith,

H. H. Spooner,

Peter A. Cool,

Howard H. Russell, Secretary,
The Standing Committee on Temperance.

1913.] REPORT ON ORDER OF WORSHIP. 297

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE ORDER OF

WORSHIP.

The Committee on the Order of Worship, appointed by the
National Comicil in Boston in 1910, was authorized to supple-
ment the work of the previous committee, which had presented
an " Order of Worship for the Morning Service," by preparing
" additional forms for the Communion Service, Baptismal
Service, and other services common in all churches, for the
assistance of pastors in making such services impressive and
helpful ; this committee to present the result of its work to the
next National Council."

The use of any such form is, of course, optional with our
churches. There is no desire on the part of any to limit that
liberty of worship which is part of our heritage from the fathers.
While nearly all the branches of the Reformed Church prepared
for their several communions suitable forms for their various
services in proper order and felicitous language, to give them
dignity and harmony, they provided also for freedom in the
use of these suggested forms. They welcomed spontaneous
prayer. They expected their forms to be guides in the ex-
pression of sincere worship, rather than cast-iron formulae
from which there could be no variation.

In thorough loyalty to this ideal of freedom in worship,
this committee suggests the Orders of Service which it has
prepared. They are for such churches and ministers only as
may choose to use them. We expect no slavish observance of
forms. But it is believed that these suggested orders will be a
welcome guide to the inexperienced, will stimulate a deeper
devotion, and may lend a dignity and charm to our services
which thej' have often lacked. They have been dra-vsTi from
many sources, adapted from the service books of various
branches of the churcli universal, from modem manuals of
devotional services, and from forms in use in some of our largest
churches. They present, therefore, a wealth of devotional
material which will, it is hoped, make them of much value.

298 REPORT ON ORDER OF WORSHIP. [1913.

In addition to tiie Order for Morning Worship, presented by
the previous committee and approved by the Council of 1910,
your present committee now offers additional services as follows :

An order for a vesper service.

An order for an evening service.

An order for the laying of a corner stone of a church building.

An order for the dedication of a church building.

An order for the ordination (or installation) of a minister.

An order for the reception of members.

An order for the baptism or consecration of children.

An order for the communion service.

An order for the marriage service.

An order for the funeral service.

As an aid in the culture of a devotional spirit, and to assist
those whose timidity and lack of experience make them hesitant
about leading their fellow-Christians in prayer, we have added
to those presented by the former committees a few other prayers
suited to special needs. The minister or leader of worship may
find the occasional use of some of these a help to his own life,
as well as to those to whom he ministers.

In presenting these additional orders of service, the com-
mittee would emphasis anew some of the suggestions made by
the former committee.

In Congregational churches the expression of worship should
be congregational. All the people should, as far as possible,
participate in praise and prayer. They are not to be sung to,
nor read to, nor prayed for, without themselves having some
share in song. Scripture, and prayer. We have, therefore,
provided in these services for a larger participation than usual
on the part of the people. We believe it will add to the interest
and attractiveness of worship if the service of praise is not merely
something to be listened to, but something to be engaged in by
all the people. While we believe that the most competent
and highly skilled leadership should be secured, it should be
leadership chiefly, and the people themselves should be en-
couraged to have a verj^ large share in this part of the service.
Persistent pract'ce will make whole congregations able to sing
with ease and enjoyment music that at first seems difficult.
Our English brethren have proved that entire congregations
can sing the anthems and chants with splendid effejst under good

1913.] REPORT ON ORDER OF WORSHIP. 299

leadership. So also a part of the service of prayer belongs to
the people, led by the minister. Their confessions and thanks-
givings should find vocal utterance. Our congregations have
already become well accustomed to the responsive reading of
devotional portions of Scripture, and have found it edifying
and inspiring. The more the people themselves take an active
part in the service of prayer and praise, the greater will be their
enjojTnent of them. It is in accordance with the very genius
of Congregationalism that its services of worship should be, as
far as possible, congregational.

We desire to call especial attention also to the value of such
a collection of forms for various services for our pastorless
churches. Nearly a third of our churches, as in the other
denominations, are without pastors. For lack of a leader of the
worship, many of them suspend their services for weeks and
months. The sanctuary is closed. The church-going habit is
impaired. The life and strength of the church wane. The long
interruption of services leads to the decline and finally to the
death of too many churches. But with the assistance of such
prepared orders of service a lajinan may take courage to conduct
the worship, in which the congregation shall have large participa-
tion, and they find it delightful and inspiring. Many a little
church, on the frontier, or in a locality where it is difficult to
secure the service of a minister, may thus maintain without
interruption its regular services of worship, and so conserve its
strength and be a continuous blessing to the community. It
is the hope of j^our committee that these services may not only
be found acceptable to our larger churches, but may be of
peculiar helpfulness in our smaller churches, strengthening their
life and adding to their joj'.

It is hoped that ministers, also, may find these suggested
services helpful to them as they prepare themselves to lead the
people in prayer. This part of the service needs as careful
preparation as the sermon. Too often the pastoral prayer is
prolix and rambling, desultory in thought and careless in ex-
pression, a burden to the minister and a weariness to the people.
A deeply devotional spirit is the first essential in this part of the
service. A due regard for the orderly offering of adoration,
thanksgiving, confession, petition, and communion with God is
needed next. And it is a great advantage if the mind is so

300 REPORT ON ORDER OF WORSHIP. [1913.

steeped in the devotional utterances of Scripture, and in those
noble and touching prayers of the great leaders of the Christian
host which have been preserved for us in the service books of the
different branches of the Christian Church, that the very words
take on a dignity and beauty most helpful to the people. If
these forms now presented, drawn largely from these rich and
ancient sources, shall prove helpful to ministers in this most
delicate and important part of their work, we shall be deeply
grateful.

Should the National Council approve the work of this com-
mittee which we now present, and should a considerable num-
ber of our churches adopt these forms of service, they may help
to unify our free churches in the expression of their common
worship. Precious as is our liberty, equally dear is our fellow-
ship; and whatever tends to draw us together into a common
life as a group of churches, with common sentiments, methods,
and aims, will show that we are not independent stragglers, but
a well-organized battalion in the grand army of our King, keep-
ing step together. Our freedom permits the closest cooperation,
and should these services commend themselves to a large number
of our churches, their use may help to promote and make mani-
fest that unity in diversity which is so desirable.

Charles H. Richards, Chairman.

1913.1 REPORT ON ORDER OF WORSHIP. 301

AN ORDER FOR A VESPER SERVICE.

ORGAN PRELUDE.

PROCESSIONAL OR INTRODUCTORY HYMN.

^Then let the minister read one or more of the following sentences, or others
at his discretion.

Thoughts of peace, saith the Lord, do I think toward you: ye shall go

and pray unto me, and I will hearken to you: ye shall seek me, and

find me when ye shall search for me with your whole heart.
Let my praj'er be set forth in thy sight as the incense; and let the lifting

up of my hands be an evening sacrifice.
O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together; for with

him is the fountain of life, and in his light shall we see light.
The day goeth away, and the shadows of evening are stretched out;

and it shall come to pass that at evening time there shall be light.
The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship

the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to

worship him. God is a spirit, and they that worship him, must

worship him in spirit and in truth.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart,

O God, thou wilt not despise.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be alway

acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.
Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name

is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a

contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to

revive the heart of the contrite.

^Then let the minister say:

Lift up your hearts.

Answer. We Mft them up unto the Lord.

Minister. Let us give thanks unto our Lord God.

Answer. It is meet and right so to do.

Minister. It is very meet, right, and our bounden duty, that we should

at all times, and in all places, give thanks unto thee, O Lord, Holy

Father, Almighty, Everlasting God.
Therefore, with angels and archangels, and with all the company of

heaven, we laud and magnify thy glorious name; evermore praising

thee, and saying,
Answer. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts; heaven and earth are

full of thy glory. Glory be to thee, O Lord, most high. Amen.

302 REPORT ON ORDER OF WORSHIP. [1913.

^Then let the minister say:

Dearly beloved brethren, the heavenly Father in whose presence we now
stand is always more ready to hear than we to pray: nor does any-
thing hide him from us but the veil of our impure and earthly mind.
And since the preparation of even the wilhng heart is not without
him, let us inwardly pray for the grace of a humble and holy spkit:
that for a little while we may be alone with him ; and, as his beloved
Son went up into the mountain to pray, so we may rise above the
baste and press of life, and commune with him in spirit and in truth.

*iThen let the minister lead the people in prayer, tising the folloiving, or
some other prayer, as seemeth fit:

O God, who art, and wast, and art to come, before whose face the genera-
tions rise and pass away; age after age the living seek thee, and find
that of thy faithfulness there is no end. Our fathers in their pil-
grimage walked by thy guidance, and rested on thy compassion:
still to their children be thou the cloud by day, the fire by night.
Where but in thee have we a covert from the storm, or shadow from
the heat of Ufe? In our manifold temptations, thou alone knowest
and art ever nigh: in sorrow, thy pity revives the fainting soul:
in our prosperity and ease it is thy Spirit only that can wean us
from our pride and keep us low. O thou sole source of peace and
righteousness! take now the veil from every heart; and join us in
one communion with thy prophets and saints, who have trusted
in thee, and were not ashamed. Not of our worthiness, but of thy
tender mercy hear our prayer, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.

^Then let the Lord's Prayer be said by the people with the minister.

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom
come. Thy wiU be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this
day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our
debtors. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from
evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for
ever and ever. Amen.

'il'hen may follow a congregational hymn.

^And after the hymn let there be read by the minister and people, alternately,
a selection from the Scriptures.

TfT/ien let all sing the Gloria Patri:

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.
Amen.

*^Then may be read the First Lesson, taken out of the Old Testament. After
that is sung the first anthem.

1913.] REPORT ON ORDER OF WORSHIP. 303

y^Then the Second Lesson, taken out of the N^ew Testamenl. After that is
sung the second anthem.

'^Then mayfolloiv the Evening Prayer, the minister first saying:

Minister. The Lord be with you:

Answer. And with thy spirit.

Minister. Let us pray.

O Lord, show thy mercy upon us:

Answer. And grant us thy salvation.

Minister. O Lord, save the State:

Answer. And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee.

Minister. Save thy people, O Lord, and bless thine inheritance:

Answer. Govern them and lift them up forever.

Minister. Give peace in our time, O Lord:

Answer. For it is thou, Lord, only, that makest us dwell in safety.

Minister. O God, make clean our hearts within us:

Answer. And take not thy Holy Spirit from us.

Minister. O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the w^orld:

Answer. Grant us thy peace. Amen.

*\Then may follow further -prayer, at the discretion of the minister. And
let all employ this season in making their requests known to Almighty
God.

*^After prayer let all sing a congregational hymn.

%Here follows the sermon.

*i2'hen may be sung by the choir or congregation the Evening Hymn of

Devotion.
*!>, After a few moments of silence for inward prayer, let the minister conclude

the Vesper Service as follows:

A Prayer of St. Chrysostom.

Almighty God, who hast given us grace, at this time, with one accord,
to make our common supphcations unto thee; and dost promise
that when two or three are gathered together in thy Name thou
will grant their requests; FulfiU now, O Lord, the desires and peti-
tions of thy servants, as may be most expedient for them ; granting
us in this world knowledge of thy truth, and in the world to come
life everlasting. Amen.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellow-
ship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all evermore. Amen.

AIDS TO DEVOTION.

Evening Prayers.

Sustain us through all the long day of this mortal Ufe, until the shadows
lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and life's

304 REPORT ON ORDER OF WORSHIP. [1913.

fever is over, and our work is done. Then, 0 Lord, grant us a safe lodging,
a holy rest, and peace at last, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Avien.

A Prayer of Memorial.

Eternal God, Lord of every world, before whom stand the spirits of the
Uving and the dead; we bless and praise thy holy name for all thy servants
departed this life in thy faith and fear; and especially for those most dear
to us, the friends of om- youth and later years, and httle children whose
angels behold thy face in heaven. And we beseech thee to give us grace
so to follow their good example, that even here we may be united to them
in fellowship of spirit; and that finally when we too are called hence, we
may be gathered together with them in the everlasting light and peace.
Amen.

A Prayer for Charity.

O Creator and Preserver of mankind, whose wiU is that not one of thy
children should perish, but that all should have eternal life; we beseech
thee for increase of the heavenly gift of charity: that we may account
nothing common or unclean which thou hast made, nor despise those who
through ignorance and temptation have wandered into sin; nor hate those
who, following the evil of their own hearts, have wrought wickedness in
the earth; but help us rather to imitate the example of thy Son, in patience
toward the infirmities of mankind, and hope for the redemption of those
who are furthest off from thee; seeking ever to overcome hatred with love
and evil with good; that others may see our good works, and glorify with
us our Father in heaven; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Prayer for Forgiveness.

O most mighty God and merciful Father, who hast compassion on all
men, and hatest nothing that thou hast made : who wouldest not the death
of a sinner, but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live:
mercifully forgive us our trespasses; receive and comfort all who are
grieved and wearied with the burden of their sins; enable us to overcome
our temptations, and henceforth to five a godly, righteous and sober hfe,
to the glory of thy holy Name, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Prayer for Protection.

O God, who knowest us to be set in the midst of so many and great
dangers, that by reason of the frailty of our nature we cannot always stand
upright; grant to us such strength and protection as may support us in
all dangers, and carry us through all temptations; through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Aynen.

A Prayer for Those in Trouble.

Be merciful, O God, unto all who need thy mercy, and let the angel of
thy presence save the afflicted; be thou the Strength of the weary, the

1913.] REPORT ON ORDER OF WORSHIP. 305

Comfort of the sori-owful, the Friend of the desolate, the Light of the
wandering, the Hope of the dying, the Saviour of the lost, through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen.

0 Lord, we beseech thee mercifully to receive the prayers of thy people
who call on thee; and grant that they may both perceive and know what
things they ought to do, and also have grace and power faithfully to fulfill
the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

AN ORDER FOR A VESPER (OR EVENING) SERVICE.

THE PERSONAL PRAYER.

^On entering the church, the lonrshiper with bowed head viay say:

O God, may I now so submit myself to thy wise and loving direction
that in this hour of worship I shall miss no good thou hast ready
for my soul. May I devoutly hsten to thy message of grace and
utter my need to thy listening ear. Guide me to a better life and
thus bring me at last to my eternal home.

ORGAN PRELUDE.

^Let the minister and congregation rise as the choir enters and all join in
the

PROCESSIONAL HYMN.

^7/ a processional is not used, this may be an Introductory Hymn.
^Then let the minisier give
THE CALL TO WORSHIP.

Minister. Thoughts of peace, saith the Lord, do I think toward you:
ye shall go and pray unto me and I wiU hearken unto you; ye shall
seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with your whole
heart.

The hour cometh and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the
Father in Spirit and in Truth, for such doth the Father seek to be
His worshipers.

People. God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him
in Spirit and in Truth.

\Then let the people, still standing, read responsively with the minister

THE CONFESSION OF DEPENDENCE:

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills,

from whence cometh my help.
My help cometh from the Lord,

which made heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved:

he that keepeth thee will not slumber.

306 REPORT ON ORDER OF WORSHIP. [1913.

Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall

neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy

shade upon thy right hand.
The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor

the moon by night.
The Lord shall preserve thee from all

evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
The Lord shall preserve thy going out

and thy coming in from this time forth, and

even for evermore.

^ Then may follow

THE HYMN OF INVOCATION.

^One of the following may be used, if desired:
" Sun of my soul, thou Saviour dear."
" Holy Spirit, Truth Divine."
" Now God be with us, for the night is closing."

*^Then let the people be seated with bowed heads and join responswely with
ihe minister in

THE CONFESSION OF SIN:
Have mercy on me, 0 God,

According w thy loving kindness.
According to the multitude of thy tender mercies,

Blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

And cleanse me from my sin.
For I acknowledge my transgressions,

And my sin is ever before me.
Against thee, thee only, have I sinned.

And done that which was evil in thy sight.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,

And renew a right spirit within me.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

A broken and a contrite heart, 0 God, thou wilt not despise.

^Then let the minister give
THE ASSURANCE OF PARDON:

Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him;
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

*^Then let the people rise and join with the minister in

THE CONFESSION OF THE LAW:

Minister. The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; the testi-
mony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of

1913.] REPORT ON ORDER OF WORSHIP. 307

the Lord arc right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the
Lord is pure, enUghtening the eyes.

*i\The minister and the congregation in unison:

I. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
II. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.

III. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord, thy God, in vain.

IV. Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy.
V. Honor thy father and thy mother.

VI. Thou shalt not kiU.
VII. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
VIII. Thou shalt not steal.
IX. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
X. Thou shalt not covet.
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy
soul, and with all thy mind; this is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it; thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
Minister. He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth
the Lord require of thee but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to
walk humbly with thy God.

*^Then let the minister and congregation unite in

THE CONFESSION OF FAITH.

Minister. Lord, increase our faith .

The Congregation. I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of
heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord, who
was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered
under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; the third day
He rose from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth on
the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall
come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost,
the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgive-
ness of sins, the resurrection of the dead, and the life everlasting.
Amen.

1[r/ien let the congregation be seated.

^Then let the minister say:

Whoso offereth the sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifieth me. O Lord,
open thou my lips and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.

*iThen shall follow

THE ANTHEM OF PRAISE.

*iBy the choir, or a hymn of praise by all. Appropriate hymns are:
" O come, 0 come, Emmanuel! "
" Crown Him with many crowns."
" Fairest Lord Jesus."
" Rejoice, rejoice, beUevers."

308 REPORT ON ORDER OF WORSHIP. [l913.

1f7'/ien let the minister offer
THE VESPER PRAYERS.

^Then shall follow
THE OFFERTORY.

^Here may be sung if desired
THE OFFERTORY ANTHEM.

^Then shall.follow
THE SCRIPTURE AND THE SERMON.

^Then let the minister give
THE DECLARATION OF PEACE.

Beloved, now are v^e the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what
we shall be; but we know, that when he shall appear we shall be
like him, for we shall see him as he is; and every man that hath this
hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure. The Lord hath
been mindful of us ; he will bless us.

^Then let the people rise, and all join in

THE HYMN OF ASPIRATION

*iOne of the folloiving may he used if desired:

" Saviour again to thy dear name we raise."
" Lead us, O Father, in the paths of peace."
" Immortal Love, forever full."
'' O mother dear, Jerusalem."

*^Then let the congregation be seated, 'with botved heads, while the minister
gives

THE ASCRIPTION.

Now unto the blessed and only Potentate, the King of Kings, and Lord
of Lords; who only hath immortality; dwelling in the light which
no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen or can see;
vmto him be honor and power evei'lasting. Amen.

*^Then shall folloiv

THE BENEDICTION.

The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine
upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his counte-
nance upon you and give you peace. Amen.

^Then let the people tarry for a moment of silent prayer.

*^Then may follow the

ORGAN POSTLUDE.

1913.] REPORT ON ORDER OF WORSHIP. 309

AN ORDER FOR AN EVENING SERVICE.

THE ORGAN PRELUDE.

^The congregation shall nse and join responsively with the minister in

THE CALL TO WORSHIP.

Minister. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High

Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
People. Abide with us, O Lord, for it is evening,

And the day is far spent.
Minister. Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense,

And the hfting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice
People. O come, let us worship and bow down,

Let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker.

%Then let the congregation be seated, vxith boived heads, while the minister,
in his own words, or, if he prefers, using one of the following prayers,
leads them in

THE INVOCATION.

Almighty God, Lord of Peace and Giver of Rest; grant unto us at even-
tide as well as at noonday the light of thy countenance, that we
maj^ see thy truth and our dut}^ and so behold thy glory, that we
may grow into thy likeness. May we feel thee to be near, and know
thee to be good, and that thy mercy is from everlasting to ever-
lasting. Lifting our hearts together, may we find thee in our seek-
ing, and with thee all that is best and most abiding. Amen.^

Or this:

Our Father who art in heaven, in the quiet of this evening hour we have
crossed the threshold of eternal things to worship thee who seest
in secret. And since the preparations of even the willing heart are
not without thee, we pray for the grace of a humble and holy spirit;
that for a Uttle while we may be alone with thee, and as thy well-
beloved Son went up into the mountains to pray, so we may rise
above the haste and press of life, and commune with thee in spirit
and in truth. Amen.^

Or this:

Lord of the evening hour, who hast often met with us at close of day,
be our refuge now from the noise of the world and the care of our
own spirits. Grant us thy peace. Let not the darkness of our
ignorance and folly, of our sorrow and sin, hide us from thee.^ Speak
to each of as the word that we need, and let thy word abide with us
imtil it has wrought thy holy will. Quicken and refresh our hearts,
renew and increase our strength, so that we may grow into the like-

' John Hunter.

'Rev. Charles A. Dinsmore.

310 REPORT ON ORDER OF WORSHIP. Il913.

ness of thy faithful children, and by our worship at this time be
enabled better to serve thee in our daily life, in the spirit of Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen.^

^Then may follow the
HYMN OF INVOCATION.

*^Then let the minister read
THE SCRIPTURE LESSON.

^Then may follow
THE ANTHEM.

*^Then let the minister lead the -people in

THE PRAYER, using the following prayer, "At Eventide,'" or some other
prayer at his discretion.
We beseech thee, Lord, to behold us with favor, folk of many families
and nations, gathered together in the peace of this roof, weak men
and women, subsisting under the covert of thy patience. Be
patient still; suffer us yet a while longer — with our broken pur-
poses of good, with our idle endeavors against evil, suffer us a while
longer to endure, and if it may be, help us to do better. Bless to
us our extraordinary mercies; if the day come when these must be
taken, brace us to play the man under affliction. Be with our
friends, be with ourselves. Go with each of us to rest; if any awake,
temper to them the dark hours of watching; and when the day re-
turns, return to us, our Sun and comforter, and call us up with
morning faces and with morning hearts — eager to labor — eager
to be happy if happiness shall be our portion ■ — and if the day be
marked for sorrow, strong to endure it. Amen.^

^A/ier the prayer there may be a
CHOIR RESPONSE.

*^Then shall follow
THE OFFERTORY.

^An offertory anthem may be sung if desired.

^Then let all the people sing
THE HYMN OF ASPIRATION.

*^Then shall follow
THE SERMON.

yiAfter the sermon let all the people sing
A HYMN OF CONSECRATION.

^Then let the minister lead the people in

' Oscar E. Maurer.
sR. L. Stevenson.

1913.] REPORT ON ORDER OF WORSHIP. 311

THE CLOSING PRAYER.

Sustain us through all the day long of this mortal life, until the shadows
lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed,
and life's fever is over, and our work is done. Then, O Lord, grant
us a safe lodging, a holy rest, and peace at last, through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen.

Lighten our darkness, we beseech thee, O Lord; and by thy great mercy
defend us from all perils and dangers of this night; for the love of
thy only Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.

'^Then shall follow

THE BENEDICTION.

ORGAN POSTLUDE.

AN ORDER FOR THE LAYING OF THE CORNER
STONE OF A CHURCH BUILDING.

^The -people being assembled at the place where the church is to he built,
the minister shall read the following sentences:

Except the Lord buUd the house, they labor in vain that build it.

The Lord hath chosen thee to build an house for the sanctuary; be
strong and do it. Fear not, nor be dismayed; for the Lord God,
even my God, is with thee. He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee,
until all the work for the service of the house of the Lord be finished.

Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a founda-
tion a stone, a tried stone, a precious comer stone of sure foundation.

According to the grace of God which was given unto me, as a wise mas-
ter builder I laid a foundation; and another buildeth thereon. But
let each man take heed how he buildeth thereon. For other founda-
tion can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Ye are fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, being
built upon the "foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ
Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone; in whom each several
building, fitly framed together, groweth into a holy temple in the
Lord ; in whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God
in the Spirit.

*^Then mny the people sing
A HYMN. {One of the following mxiy he used, if desired.)
" The Church's one Foundation."
" Christ is our Cornerstone."
" Founded on Thee, our only Lord."

^Then shall the minister lead the people in
THE PRAYER.

312 REPORT ON ORDER OF WORSHIP. [1913.

Almighty God, maker of heaven and earth, who hast put it into the
hearts of thy people to erect here a temple of worship to thee, grant
unto us thy blessing at this hour, and may this cornerstone, here
planted in thy name, be the foundation of a true home for thy chil-
dren. Bless those whose offerings have helped to build this house.
Graciously guard and direct those who labor in erecting it, shielding
them from accident and peril. Grant to us all thy heavenly grace,
that we may be built up in soul and body into living temples of God,
and bring us aU into thy glory to be pillars in thine eternal temple,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

^Then shall follow the laying of the stone. The box containing the docu-
ments and articles to be preserved having been placed in the cavity
prepared for it, the stone shall be brought into position, and the minister,
assisted by the builders, shall fit it into its place, and then striking the
stone three times with the trowel, he shall say:

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, we
lay this comer stone of house to be erected here and dedicated to
the worship of Almighty God, to the spread of the gospel of Christ,
and to the service of humanity. Amen.

^Then may be given an Address. After which, if desired, an offering may
be made for the Building Fund.

*i Then may be sung
THE HYMN. {One of the folloiving may be used, if desired.)
" I love Thy Kingdom, Lord."
" How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord."
" FUng out the baimer, let it float."

*iThen may the service be concluded with
THE BENEDICTION.

AN ORDER FOR THE DEDICATION OF A CHURCH.

ORGAN PRELUDE.

PROCESSIONAL OR INTRODUCTORY HYMN.

^One of the folloiving may be used if desired:
" The Church's one Foundation."
" Glorious things of Thee are spoken."
" Ancient of Days, who sittest throned in glory."
" God of our Fathers, whose almighty hand."

THE CALL TO WORSHIP.

Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion, and unto thee shall the vow be

performed.
I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord.

1913.1 REPORT ON ORDER OF WORSHIP. 313

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise.
For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and his truth endureth
to all generations.

*iThen let all the congregation join in singing
THE HYMN OF PRAISE. {One of the following may he used.)
" Praise God from whom all blessings flow."
" Praise the Lord, ye heavens adore him."
" O God, our help in ages past."

'^Then let the congregation he seated with bowed heads while the minister,
in his own words, or, if he prefers, using the following -prayer, leads
them in

THE INVOCATION.

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, whom the heaven of heavens can-
not contain, much less this house which we have built; yet who
dehghtest in the assemblage of thy people in the sanctuary, and has
promised to bless them there; look with thy loving favor upon us
this day, and accept as thine own this temple of worship which thy
children would consecrate to thy service. Cause thy face to shine
upon us here, and make this place to all who gather here the very
house of God and the gate of heaven; through Jesus Christ, our
Lord. Amen.

*iThen shall the minister and all the people unite in
THE LORD'S PRAYER.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name. Thy kingdom
come. Thy wiU be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this
day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our
debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but dehver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.
Amen.

^\Then let the congregation stand and with the minister unite in
THE RESPONSIVE READING (Psalm 24) :

The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof;

The world, and they that dwell therein.
For He hath founded it upon the seas

And established it upon the floods.
Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?

And who shall stand in his holy place f
He that hath clean hands and a pure heart;

Who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity,

And hath not sworn deceitfully.
He shall receive the blessing from the Lord
And righteousness from the God of his salvation.

This is the company of them that seek Him,

That seek Thy face, 0 God of Israel.

314 REPORT ON ORDER OF WORSHIP. [1913.

Lift up your heads, O ye gates,

And be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors,

And the King of glory shall come in.
Who is the King of Glory?

The Lord strong and mighty. The Lord mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O ye gates;
Yea, hft them up, ye everlasting doors,

And the King of glory shall come in.
Who is the King of glory?

The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory.

*iThen let all the people sing
THE GLORIA PATRI.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it

was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.

Amen.
yiThein let the congregation, still standing, and led by the minister, unite in

the recital of

THE CREED.

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.

And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the
Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead and buried; the third day he rose from the dead,
he ascended into heaven and sitteth on the right hand of God the
Father Almighty ; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and
the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost; the Holy Catholic Church; the communion
of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the dead, and
the life everlasting. Amen.

*^Then let the congregation be seated, and the choir may sing
THE ANTHEM.

^The Te Deum Laicdamus, Venite, Cantate, or other suitable anthem may
be sung.

^Then let the minister read
THE SCRIPTURE LESSON.

Appropriate selections are. Psalm 47; 1 Chron. 29 : 11-18; 2 Chron.
6 : 18-31, 41, 42; 2 Chron. 5 : 13, 14; 1 Cor. 3 : 9-17; Eph. 2:
19-22; Rev. 21 : 1-5, 22-27.

*^Then let all the people unite in
A HYMN OF PRAISE. {The following are appropriate.)
" I love thy kingdom. Lord."
" Christ is the corner stone."
" Thou whose unmeasured temple stands."
" Crown Him with many crowns."

1913.

REPORT ON ORDER OF WORSHIP.

315

'^Then may follow
THE SERMON.

\Then may follow
THE OFFERTORY.

^Before the -people give their thank-offering for the completion of the sanctu-
ary, the minister, or one of the officers of the church, may present a
statement of the cost of the building and its equipment.

^ After the offertory the minister may lead the people in
THE SERVICE OF DEDICATION,

^The people standing and all joining in the Responses.

Minister. To the glory of God, our Father, by whose favor we have
built this house;

To the honor of Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the Uving God,
om- Lord and Saviour;

To the praise of the Holy Spirit, source of hght and life;
People. We dedicate this house.
Minister. For worship in prayer and song;

For the ministry of the Word;

For the celebration of the Holy Sacraments;
People. We dedicate this house.
Minister. For comfort to those who mourn;

For strength to those who are tempted;

For help in right living;
People. We dedicate this house.
Minister. For the sanctification of the family;

For the guidance of childhood;

For the salvation of men;
People. We dedicate this house.
Minister. For aggression against evil;

For fostering patriotism;

For promoting civic righteousness;
People. We dedicate this house.
Minister. For sympathy and fellowship with the needy;

For brotherhood with aU men;

For the essential unity of all believers in Jesus Christ;
People. We dedicate this house.
Minister. For the building of character;

For the giving of hope and courage to all human hearts;

For the teaching of moraUty, temperance and justice;
People. We dedicate this house.
Minister. For missionary endeavor at home and abroad;

For world-wide evangelism and education, till all the kingdoms
of the world become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his
Christ;

316 REPORT ON ORDER OF WORSHIP. [l913.

For the reform of social wrongs, till all human society is trans-
formed into a kingdom of heaven ;

People. We dedicate this house.

Minister. In grateful remembrance of all who have loved and served
this church; with hearts tender for those who have fared
forth from the earthly habitations; a free-will offering of
thanksgiving and praise;

People We dedicate this house.

Minister and People. We, now, the people of this church and congregation,
compassed about with a great cloud of witnesses, gratejid for
our heritage, sensible of the sacrifices of the fathers, confessing
that apart from u^ their work cannot be made perfect, do dedi-
cate ourselves anew to the worthy worship of God in this place
and to the constant service of God in the Christian service of men .

'^Then shall be said, or sung, by the minister and all the people together, one
or two verses of

THE HYMN: " Glorious things of Thee are spoken."

^Then shall follow

THE PRAYER OF DEDICATION.

^The minister may use his own form of loords, or, if preferred, may re-use

one or more of the following.
^If desired, the people may join in the use of the prayers.

Aknighty and Everlasting God, who inhabitest eternity and dwellest
not in temples made with hands, yet who dost manifest thyself to
thy people in the sanctuary, accept, we pray thee, the offering of
this house which we have built to the glory of thy Holy Name. We
have set it apart as a temple of worship, where thy praises shall be
devoutly sung; where the prayers of thy people shall be made unto
thee continually; where thy holy gospel shall be preached; and
where the sacraments of thy church shall be observed. May we
worship thee here in spirit and in truth; and may the glory of the
Lord fiU this house. Amen.

Heavenly Father, grant us thy presence within these walls, we beseech
thee. Unless thou art with us we have built in vain. May thy
spirit enable us here to do the work of thy kingdom, in loyal dis-
cipleship to thy Son, Jesus Christ, whose we are and whom we serve.
Give vmto us a quickening faith and sympathy with all that is noble
and true. Broaden our vision and our interests, enlarge our hearts,
until we shall give ourselves in helpful ministry to aU who sin and
suffer, all who are weary and heavy laden, aU who hope and pray.
DeUver us from bitterness and strife, from pride and boasting, from
narrowness of creed and selfishness of life, so that all who truly love
Christ and desire to follow Him may find a home and a place for
service with us. Inspire us with lofty ideals, and help us to learn
the great lesson of life from Him who came " not to be ministered

1913.] REPORT ON ORDER OF WORSHIP. 317

unto, but to minister." Help us here to be colaborers with thee,
working with tireless zeal for the triumph of thy kingdom on earth,
so that at last the whole wide world shall be none other but the house
of God, and the gate of heaven. Amen}

Almighty God, Fountain of wisdom, goodness and love, we ask for this
church the consecration of thy presence and spirit. May all thy
children be ever welcome here. Hither may the little ones love to
come, and here may young men and maidens be strengthened for the
battle of life. Here may the strong renew their power, and hither'
may age turn its footsteps to find the peace of God and light at
eventide. Here may the poor and needy find friends. Here may
the tempted find succor, the sorrowing find comfort, and the be-
reaved catch the vision of their loved ones in the eternal home.
Here may those who doubt have their better hopes confirmed.
Here may the careless be awakened to their folly and sin, and be
brought to timely repentance. Here may thy faithful people
make manifest the church of the living God, the pillar and ground
of the truth, and may this house be the place where thine honor
dwelleth, and the whole earth be filled with thy glory. Amen?

DEDICATION HYMN.

1[0we of the folloioing may be used if desired.
" A mighty Fortress is our God."
" O Master, let me walk with Thee."
" Faith of our fathers, living still."
" O God, beneath thy guiding hand."
" O where are kings and empires now."
" One holy Church of God appears."

^Theii let the people he seated with bowed heads, while the minister leads
them in
THE CLOSING PRAYER and

THE BENEDICTION: Now may the God of peace, etc.
ORGAN POSTLUDE.

ORDER OF SERVICE AT THE ORDINATION (OR
INSTALLATION) OF A MINISTER.

1IA council of churches (represented by their pastors and delegates) and
invited members having voted its approval of the ordination (or in-
stallation) of the minister, the congregation being assembled far the
public services or ordination (or installation), the following order may
observed) :

ORGAN PRELUDE.

' John Doane.
' John Hunter.

318 REPORT ON ORDER OF WORSHIP. [1913.

PROCESSIONAL HYMN.

^The following, or any other appropriate hymn, may he used:
" Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty."
" Come, thou Almighty King."
" The Son of God goes forth to war."
" Rejoice, ye pure in heart."
" Rise up, O men of God."

*iThe ministers and members of the Council may, if desired, enter with the
choir, or they may be seated during the organ prelude.

^If the processional is omitted, an appropriate introductory hymn may he
sung by the choir and congregation.

THE MODERATOR'S STATEMENT shall then be made by the moderator
of the Council, as to its inquiry and result.

THE MINUTES OF THE COUNCIL may then be presented by the
scribe.

THE PRAYER OF INVOCATION.

*^The minister may use the following, or his own form of words:
1 Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, Fountain of life and light, who
didst raise up prophets in ancient times for the guidance of the
people, and whose Son, Jesus Christ, didst send abroad into the
world, apostles, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, grant us thy
blessing in this hovu", we beseech thee. Bestow upon thy servant
the spirit of thy grace, that he may be a true messenger of thy great
love in Jesus Christ. May he, and all faithful ministers of thy
gospel, be so filled with prophetic fire and apostoUc zeal, that thy
church may be greatly blessed, and thy name be glorified; through
Jesus Christ our Lord who hath taught us to pray, saying:

*^Here let all the people unite with the minister —

Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom
come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this
day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our
debtors. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.
Amen.

SCRIPTURE READING.

^The following responsive reading may be read by the minister and people

(standing) : or other appropriate Scripture may be read by the minister

alone; such as 2 Tim. 2 : 1-11; 3 : 14-17; 4 : 1-8.
Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion;

And unto thee shall the vow be performed.
O Thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.

As for our transgressions, thou unit forgive them.
iJohn Hunter.

1913.] REPORT ON ORDER OF WORSHIP. 319

Blessed is the man whom thou dost choose and bring near,
That he may dwell in thy courts :

We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy hoixse,

The holiness of thy temple.
For the Lord hath chosen Zion,

He hath desired it for his habitation.
This is my resting place forever;

Here will I dwell; for I have desired it,
I will abundantly bless her provision:

I will satisfy her poor with bread.
Her priests also will I clothe with salvation;

And her saints shall shout aloud for joy.
Arise, O Lord, into thy resting place;

Thou, and the ark of thy strength.
Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness,

And let thy saints shout for joy.
Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south.

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy;
He that goeth forth weeping, bearing seed for the sowing

Shall doubtless come home nrith rejoicing,

Bringing his sheaves with him.

*\Then may follow
THE GLORIA PATRI OR AN ANTHEM (by the choir).
liOne of the following hymns may be used, if desired:
" Ye servants of God, your Master proclaim."
" Come, O Creator, spirit blest."
" Lord of the living harvest."
" O Zion, haste, thy mission high fulfilling."

*^T hen shall follow
THE SERMON.

*^Then shall be offered
THE ORDAINING (OR INSTALLING) PRAYER.

^PF/ie/i the candidate is to be ordained he shall kneel beside the pulpit, and
the minister offering the ordaining prayer, the moderator and other min-
isters shall lay their hands upon his head, after the apostolic example,
and solemnly ordain him to the gospel ministry. The following prayers
may be used, if desired:

Almighty arid Everlasting God, from whom cometh every good and
perfect gift, we give thanks to thee for all thy bounties, and es-
pecially for thine unspeakable gift in Jesus Christ whom thou hast
sent to be the Saviour of the world. We thank thee that thou who
didst speak in the prophets, didst live in thy Son, and that thou
hast appointed thy church to be a witness unto him, and to pro-
claim his glad tidings to all the world. Let thy blessing rest upon
thy church, we beseech thee, that it may be indeed the body of

320 REPORT ON ORDER OF WORSHIP. [1913.

Christ, through which his spirit shines and his work is accompUshed.
May it make known thy way upon earth, thy saving health among
all nations. Heal its divisions, dehver it from blindness and preju-
dice, fin it with brotherly love, gird it with spiritual power, endue it
with a new passion for the service of humanity, that it may show
forth the power and beauty of the reUgion we profess, to the glory
of thy holy name. Amen.

Almighty and Merciful Father, we thank thee that thou hast sent forth
laborers into the fields which are ripe for the harvest. Grant thine
abimdant grace to all who minister before thee in the sanctuary,
and devote themselves to all the varied service of the Christian
ministry. Replenish them with the truth of thy word, and the
meekness of thy wisdom, and so nourish and preserve them in all
srmphcity and devoutness of life that they may faithfully serve thee
with acceptable sacrifices, ever speaking thy message boldly and in
love, and seeking only to do good to men, and to glorify thy name.
Amen.

O Lord of Light and Truth, who hast given to thy church the ministry
of reconcihation whereby thy wandering children may be brought
back to thee, to share thy life and receive the blessing of thy salva-
tion, look with thy loving favor, we beseech thee, upon this thy
servant whom we do now set apart and ordain to the work of the
Christian ministry. [Here the ministers shall lay their hands upon
the head of the candidate.] Pour down upon him the grace of thy
Holy Spirit. Grant to him the knowledge of thy truth, that seeing
it clearly and declaring it fearlessly, he may lead men upward into
a nobler Ufe. Give to him that wisdom and com-age, that sym-
pathy and patience, that hope and trast, which shall empower him
to win men and to lead them heavenward. Bless him in the work
of training the young and reclaiming the fallen. Help him to cheer
the sick, comfort the sorrowing, strengthen the weak, minister to
the poor, and lead back to the Father's house those that have
gone astray. May he be an example to the flock and a blessing to
the community. May the power of his ministry be felt throughout
this nation and unto the ends of the earth, as he seeks with his
people the triumphs of the cross in all the world. And after a
fruitful ministry may he be brought at last, with those whom thou
shalt give him, into thine eternal glory; through Jesus Christ, ovir
Lord. Amen.

^Then let the people sing
A HYMN.

Y' God of the prophets, bless the prophet's sons," or any other appro-
priate hymn may be used.

THE CHARGE TO THE PASTOR.

^This may be omitted in Installation, if desired.

1913.] REPORT ON ORDER OF WORSHIP. 321

*iThen may follow
THE RIGHT HAND OF FELLOWSHIP.

^Then may be given
THE ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE.

^iThen let the people sing

A HYMN. {Oneof the folloiving may be used if desired.)
" O Master, let me walk with Thee.'"
" Christ for the woi'ld we sing."
" God's trumpet wakes the slumbering world."
" Sing we of the Golden City."
" Fling out the banner, let it float."

^Then may follow
THE CLOSING PRAYER {by the moderator) .

%Then may be given by the pastor
THE BENEDICTION.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the Communion
of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.

ORGAN POSTLUDE.

AN ORDER FOR THE RECEPTION OF MEMBERS
INTO THE CHURCH.

*^The names of those who are to unite with the church having been read,
those who are to make confession of their faith shall present themselves before
the minister.

*^If there are those, also, who are to unite by letter from other churches,
they shall be seated conveniently near the pidpit, or if preferred, their names
may noiv be read, and they may stand with the others.

l|7'/ien sfiall the minister say to those who enter the church on confession of
their faith:

What shall I render unto the Lord

For all His benefits toward me?

I will take the cup of salvation

And call upon the name of the Lord

1 will pay my vows unto the Lord,

Now, in the presence of all his people.

Dearly beloved, called of God to be his children through Jesus Christ,
we give hearty thanks to him, who has opened your eyes to see and your
hearts to receive Jesus as your Saviour and Lord, and has inclined you
to present yourselves here to enter into the communion and fellowship of
his church.

322 REPORT ON ORDER OF WORSHIP. [1913.

Having truly repented of your sins, you sincerely devote yoiu^elves to
the love, obedience, and service of God ; you acknowledge Jesus Christ as
your Lord and Master, and confess your purpose to learn of him, to become
hke him, and to advance his kingdom in the world; you accept his Word
as the law of yoiu: hfe, and his Spirit as your comforter and guide; and
trusting in his grace to strengthen you, you promise to do what you can to
promote the peace, purity, and prosperity of this church, walking with his
disciples in love, and glorifying him by a faithful life. Do you so promise?

*\\ Then shall each one answer,
I do.

*iThen shall baptism he administered to those not previously baptized, and
the minister shall say to them:

From the beginning of the Clu-istian Church those who wished to be
numbered with the followers of Christ were baptized on confession of their
faith; do you now wish to receive such Christian baptism as a symbol of
that inward purity of life which you seek, and sign that you dedicate
yourself to the service and glory of God?

*^Then shall each person who is to be baptized answer,

I do.

^Then shall the minister baptize each of them, saying,

N , I baptize thee in [or into] the name of the Father, and of the

Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

^Then addressing those who were baptized in childhood, the minister shall
say:

You who in childhood were brought into the church on the faith of your
parents, to be recognized as the children of God, and dedicated to his
service; do you accept and confirm for yourselves that consecration made
for you in childhood when you were baptized in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost?

*^Then shall each of them answer,

I do.

*iThen shall the minister say for them:

The God of all grace, who hath called you into his eternal glory by Jesus
Christ, confirm you unto the emd, that ye may be blameless in the day of the
Lord Jesus Christ.

*^Then shall the minister say to all:

And may he so strengthen each one of you, baptized in his name, that
hereafter you shall not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified,
but that you may manfully fight under his banner against all evil, and
continue Christ's faithful soldier and servant until life's end-

1913.] REPORT ON ORDER OF WORSHIP. 323

^Then shall the minister read the names of those to be received hy letter,
if the names have not before been read, and they shall stajid in the place ap-
pointed; and the minister shall say to them:

Kindred in Christ, who come acknowledging the vows made when first
you declared your faith in Christ, we bid you welcome. We greet you as
fellow-laborers in his service, and fellow-travelers to his promised rest.
Do you now cordially unite yourself with this chiu-ch of Christ, and accept
its covenant of mutual service? Do you promise to pray and work for its
upbuUding and its usefulness; to help in sustaining its worship, its activi-
ties and its charities; and to live with us in Christian fellowship? Do you
so promise?

'iThen shall each one answer,

I do.

^Then shall the members of the church rise in salutation and welcome, and
the minister shall say to all uniting with the church on confession and by letter:

We then, the members of this church, welcome you with joy into our
communion and fellowship. We pledge to you our sympathy, our help,
and our prayers that you may evermore increase in the knowledge and love
of God. God grant that loving and being loved, serving and being served,
blessing and being blessed, we may be prepared while we dwell together on
earth for the perfect fellowsliip of the saints above.

^Here may be sung one or more verses of the hymn

" Blest be the tie that binds,"

while the minister gives to each one the right hand of fellowship, speaking
some pastoral word, or a verse of Scripture.

^Then shall the minister give a Benediction:

Now unto Him who is able to keep you from falling, and to present you
faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy; to the only
wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, world
without end, both now and forever. Amen.

Or this:
Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that
we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us; unto Him be
the glory in the church by Christ Jesus, through all ages, world without
end. Amen.

AN ORDER FOR THE BAPTISM OR CONSECRATION
OF CHILDREN.

*^When the children are to be presented for baptism {or consecration),
the name of each child in full, with the date of its birth, and the names of both
parents, should be given to the minister, in writing, at the time of the service.

324 REPOET ON ORDER OF WORSHIP. [1913.

IfAs the parents bring the children forward the choir may chant the following:

The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that
fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children:

To such as keep his covenant, and to those that r,emember his com-
mandments to do them. Ps. 103 : 17. 18.

^Then let the minister read one or more of the following:

The promise is unto j^ou and to your children, and to all that are afar
off, even as many as the Lord your God shall call. Acts 2 : 39.

See that ye despise not one of these Uttle ones; for I say unto you, that
in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in
heaven. Matt. 18 : 10.

It is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones
should perish. Matt. 18 ; 14.

And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be upon thine
heart; and thou shalt teach them diUgently unto thy children, and shalt
talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by
the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. Deut.
6 : 6, 7.

And they brought young children to liim, that he should touch them:
and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw
it, he was much displeased, and said unto them. Suffer the Uttle children
to come unto Me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a
little child, he shall not enter therein. And he took them up in his arms,
put his hands upon them, and blessed them.

*^Then lei the minister say to those who are assembled:

In this service of consecration we declare our faith in the universal
fatherhood of God; we solemnly recognize these children as his children;
we publicly name them as belonging to the great family of the heavenly
Father; we covenant to nurture them in the knowledge of God and in the
spirit of Jesus Christ, dedicating them so far as we may to the service of
God and of their fellows, trusting that they may ratify that dedication
when they reach years of discretion.

*iThen shall the minister address those presenting their children as follows:

Dearly beloved, in presenting these children [or this child] for baptism
[or consecration] you confess your faith in the imiversal fatherhood of
Him who said, " All souls are mine," and in the tender care and redeeming
love of Him who took little children in his arms and blessed them, saying,
" Of such is the kingdom of heaven." You bring them acknowledging
that they are the gifts of God, and desiring thjit they may be dedicated to
the Christian hfe.

You promise to teach them that they are God's children, that they owe
to him the love of their hearts and the service of their Uves; and that the
beginning of wisdom is to trust him and obey him. You promise to teach

1913.] REPORT ON ORDER OF WORSHIP. 325

them the way of goodness and of truth; that they may learn to hate evil
and love righteousness, and may know the Father as he is revealed in
Christ Jesus through obedience and love. And you promise to-daj' that
not onh' by the teaching of j'our Ups but by the holy influence of
faithful lives you will seek to reveal to them that grace which is able (o
save us from our sins, to strengthen us in om* labors, to comfort us in our
sorrows, and to bring us home to God. Do you so promise?

Answer. I do.

^Then the minister shall say:

The God of all grace, who hath called you unto his eternal glory by
Jesus Clu-ist, fulfill every need of yours according to his riches and glory
in Christ Jesus, confirming you unto the end, that ye may be blameless
in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

*iThen the minister may take the child in his arms, if convenient, and shall
say to the parents:

Name this child.

^Then, naming it after them, the minisier shall say:

N , I baptize thee in [or into] the name of the Father, and of the

Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

^In the consecration of children, the minister shall say:

N , I consecrate thee to the Christian life, to the worship of God, and

to the service of thy fellowmen; in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

^Then let the minister offer prayer, using his own words, or the following:

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, the protector of all the weak, keep,
guard, and bless this child [or these children] evermore. May he be a
bringer of joy to the home and to the world into which he has been born.
As he grows in years may he also grow in strength and beauty of character;
and being led in the ways of divine wisdom, stand ever among thy good
and faithful servants who rejoice to do thy will.

Endue those into whose care thou hast committed this child with a wise,
loving, devout, and faithful spirit. Help them to make their home the
scene of the highest affections, the noblest discipKne, and the purest
religion.^

As we gladly welcome this child into the congregation of Christ's flock,
to be under our special care, may we help him so that he shall never be
ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, but shall fight lo3^ally
under His banner against all evil, and continue Christ's faithful soldier and
servant unto the end. Amen.^

THE BENEDICTION.

The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine

• John Hunter's Devotional Services.
» Common Prayer.

326 REPORT ON ORDER OF WORSHIP. [1913.

upon you, and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance
upon you, and give you peace.

*iWhile the parents and children are retiring, an appropriate hymn or chant
may be sung.

AN ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE
LORD'S SUPPER.

^O/i the day appointed for the Communion, the deacons having charge of
the Lord's table shall see that it is arranged in order.

^The minister and deacons shall assemble and be seated in the place ap-
pointed.

*^An appropriate hymn may be sung. {When the ordinance follows another
service, this may be the closing hymn of that previous service.)

*^The minister mxiy then read one or more of the following sentences:

Hear what comfortable words our Saviour Christ saith unto all who truly
turn to him:

Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and
lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for
they shaU be filled.

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it
shall be opened imto you.

If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how
much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things unto them
that ask him.

Even as the Father hath loved me, I also have loved you: abide ye in
my love.

Whosoever will be chief among you let him be your servant; even as the
Son of Man came not to be ministered unto but to minister, and to give
his life a ransom for many.

*iThen shall be given the invitation of the minister to the people.

Ye that do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins, and are in love
and charity with your neighbors, and intend to lead a new life, following the
commandments of God, and walking from henceforth in his holy ways;
draw near with reverence, faith and thanksgiving and take the Supper of the
Lord to your comfort.

Come to this sacred table, not because you must but because you may;
come to testify not that you are righteous but that you sincerely love our
Lord Jesus Christ and desire to be his true disciples; come, not because you
are strong but because you are weak ; not because you have any claim on
heaven's rewards, but because in your frailty and sin you stand in constant

1913.] REPORT ON ORDER OF WORSHIP. 327

need of heaven's mercy and help; come, not to express an opinion, but to
seek a Presence and pray for a Spirit.

And now that the Supper of the Lord is spread before you, Uft up your
minds and hearts above all selfish fears and cares. Let this broad and
this wine be to you the witnesses and signs of the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit. Before
the throne of the heavenly Father and the cross of the Redeemer make your
humble confession of sin, consecrate your lives to the Christian obedience
and service, and praj^ for strength to do and to bear the holy and blessed
will of God.i

^Then let the minister lead in prayer, using the Communion Collect:

Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and
from whom no secrets are hid; cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the
inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily
magnify thy holy name; through Christ our Lord. Amen."^

*ftThe minister may then offer a prayer of confession, intercession and
thanksgiving, using his own words, or the following:

Most holy and most merciful God, our heavenly Father, led by Jesus
Christ we draw near unto thee. We would remember Christ, remember
that he has eaten with us the bread and drunk the cup of our life, that
he had communion with us in our joy and sorrow, and tasted what it is
for a man to die. We would remember the gracious beauty of his life,
his obedience unto death, the charity of his cross, and his victory over the
world's sin and sorrow. We would remember all that we owe to him, —
our greater nearness to thee and to one another, our knowledge of thy
fatherhood, and of our human brotherhood; oiu" new and more abounding
life; our deeper and more peaceful sense of immortality. Impress and
quicken our hearts with the memory of our Master and Saviour, till we
learn to feel it to be no task to serve him, no hardship to foUow him in his
obedience, and no burden to carry his cross.

We confess with shame that we often forget our Lord. We forget him
in our fear and anxiety, in our distrust and doubt of thee, our heavenly
Father. We forget him in our indolence and weariness in thy service, in
our unforgivingness and uncharitableness of disposition, in our selfishness
and worldhness. Forgive, O God, our forgetfulness. Help us so to enter
into the spirit of this service that we may go out into the world better
prepared to remember Christ amid the care and strife and sorrow of our
common days; that thus coming to thee, in himger and thirst after right-
eousness, we may eat of thy hving bread and be filled with the spirit of
Jesus Christ, and evermore dwell in him and he in us.

We remember in this sacred hour of Communion the whole family of
man, all our brethren everywhere. We remember with affection our
friends, and with charity our enemies. We pray thee to comfort the sad,
to strengthen the weak, to refresh the weary, to protect the innocent, to

' Devotional Services. Rev. John Hunter, D.D.
2 Book of Common Prayer.

328 REPORT ON ORDER OF WORSHIP. [l913.

reward the faithful, to save the lost, and to reconcile all hearts and lives to
thee. Amen.

^Then the minister shall repeat the Scripture words of institution:

Our Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread :

And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, " Take, eat; this
is my body, which is broken for you; this do in remembrance of me."

After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying,
" This cup is the New Testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye
drink it, in remembrance of me."

As often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's
death till he come.

^The minister shall then take the bread and break it in view of the people,
saying:

Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the same night in which he was betrayed,
having taken bread, and blessed and broken it, gave it to his disciples:
so I ministering in his name, give this bread unto you. Take and eat this
in remembrance that Christ died for you, and feed on him in yom* hearts
by faith with thanksgiving.

*^ After the minister, the people, and the deacons have partaken of the bread,
the minister shall take the cup and say:

Our Saviour also took the cup, and gave it to his disciples ; so I, minister-
ing in his name, give to you this cup. Drink this in remembrance that
Christ's blood was shed for you, and be thankful.

*^After xhe minister, the people, and the deacons have partaken of the cup,
the minister shall say:

^Let us pray.

Almighty and most merciful God, who hast called us to sit together in
heavenly places at this feast, of thy love, we give thanks to thee for thy
great goodness vouchsafed to us in this sacred Communion. Grant, we
beseech thee, that we may so partake of the very life of Christ, that he
may live again in us. May we be changed into his likeness, that at last he
may present us faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding
joy. Amen.

y^Then may be taken an offering for the poor.

^Diiring the distribution of the bread and wine and the receiving of the
offering, the organ rnay be played very softly.

*^Then shall the minister say:

And when they had sung an hymn, they went out unto the Mount of
Olives.

*!iThen may follow

THE HYMN OF COMMUNION.

1913.] REPORT ON ORDER OF WORSHIP. 329

^Then while the people sit with bowed heads the minister shall give

THE BENEDICTION:

The peace of God, which i)asseth all understanding, keep your hearts and
minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ our
Lord: And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Ghost, be amongst you, and remain with you always. Amen.

Or:

Now the God of Peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus,
the great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting
covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in
you that which is well pleasing in his sight; through Jesus Christ; to
whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

*\Affer the Benediction the communicants may remain in silent prayer for
a moment.

AN ORDER FOR A MARRIAGE SERVICE.

*^Before the marriage ceremony the minister shall ascertain whether those
wishing to be married have fulfilled the requirements of the law of the state,
by procuring a license, or otherwise; and he shall assure himself by carefid
inquiry that no legal or moral impediment exists why they may not lawftdly
be joined together in matrimony.

^The persons to be married having presented themselves before the minister,
the man standing at the right hand of the woman, the minister shall say:

Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight of God, and
in the presence of this company, to join together this man and this woman
in holy matrimony; which is instituted of God, blessed by our Lord Jesus
Christ, and commended by Saint Paul to be honorable among all men;
and therefore is not by any to be entered into unadvisedly or hghtly; but
reverently, discreetly, advisedly, soberly, and in the fear of God.

Into this holy estate these two persons present come now to be joined.
If any man can show just cause why they may not lawfully be joined to-
gether, let him now speak, or else hereafter forever hold his peace.

117/ no impediment to the marriage appear, then the minister shall say to
the man,

M , wilt thou have this woman to be thy wedded wife, to live to-
gether after God's ordinance in the holy estate of matrimony? Wilt
thou love her, comfort her, honor and keep her in sickness and in health;
and, forsaking all others, keep thee only unto her, so long as ye both shall
Uve?

*^The man shall answer

IwiU.

330 REPORT ON ORDER OF WORSHIP. [l913.

*^Then shall the minister say to the woman:

N , wilt thou have this man to be thy wedded husband, to live to-
gether after God's ordinance in the holy estate of matrimony? Wilt
thou love him, and comfort him, honor and keep him in sickness and in
health, and forsaking all others keep thee only unto him, so long as ye
both shall Uve?

^The woman shall answer

I will.

*iThen shall the minister say:

Who giveth this woman to be married to this man?

*![Then the minister, receiving the woman at her father's or friend's hands,
shall cause the man with his right hand to take the woman hy her right hand,
and to say after him as follows:

I, M , take thee, N , to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold

from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness
and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to
God's holy ordinance, and hereto I plight thee my troth.

y^Then shall they loose their hands, and the woman with her right hand, tak-
ing the man by his right hand, shall likewise say after the minister,

I, N , take thee, M , to be my wedded husband, to have and to

hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in
sickness and in health, to love and to cherish till death us do part, according
to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I give thee my troth.

*^T}ien shall they again loose their hands; and the man shall give unto the
woman a ring. And the minister taking the ring shall deliver it to the man
to place it upon the third finger of the woman's left hand. And the man, hell-
ing the ring there, shall say after the minister,

With this ring I thee wed, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow;
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

This ring I give thee, in token and pledge of our constant faith and abid-
ing love.i

IfT/ien the man shall leave the ring upon the third finger of the woman's
left hand, and the minister shall offer prayer, using his own words, or if he
prefers, one of the folloioing:

O eternal God, Creator and Preserver of aU mankind. Giver of all spiritual
grace, the Author of everlasting life, send thy blessing upon these thy
servants, this man and this woman, whom we bless in thy name; that, as
Isaac and Rebecca hved faithfully together, so these persons may surely
perform and keep the vow and covenant betwixt them made (whereof this
ring given and received is a token and pledge), and may ever remain in
perfect love and peace together, and live according to thy laws; through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

• Book of Common Worship. Van Dyke.

1913.] REPORT ON ORDER OF WORSHIP. 331

Or this:

Spirit of Love, who of thine own self bast brought these lives together,
sanctify and bless, we beseech thee, that which we do this day in thy name.
Teach them that only they themselves can marry themselves each to the
other; that only through their love and patience, their mutual helpfulness
and upbuilding, their perfect sympathy in mind and heart shall they
ever become one. Grant unto them grace to perform with pure and stead-
fast affection the vows which they have taken in this glad hour of love's
fulfillment. Let the joy of this day grow richer and sweeter as the years
pour their experiences into these Uves. When the skies are overcast,
may they turn to thee for comfort and for guidance; and when the sun-
light of peace is shining around about them, may the radiance of thy
presence and thy great good tidings in Christ Jesus add brightness and
beauty to the day. So loving and being loved, serving and being served,
blessing and being blessed, may they walk the path which leads to the
heights of Ufe, that heaven which begins here and ends nowhere; through
the grace and the power and the truth of Christ Jesus, who taught us to
say when we pray :

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom
come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our
daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And
lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the
kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

^Then shall the minister join their right hands together and say:

Those whom God hath joined together let no man put asunder.

'^Then shall the minister say unto the company:

Forasmuch as M — ■ — • and N have consented together in holy wed-
lock, and have witnessed the same before God and this company, and have
thereto given and pledged their troth, each to the other, and have declared
the same by giving and receiving a ring and by joining hands, I pronounce
that they are husband and wife, in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

^Then the minister may add this

BENEDICTION:

God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, bless, preserve and
keep you; the Lord mercifully with his favor look upon you, and fill you
with all spiritual benediction and grace; that ye may so Uve together in this
life that in the world to come ye may have life everlasting. Amen.

332 REPORT OF THE COMMISSION OF NINETEEN. [l913.

REPORT OF THE COMMISSION OF NINETEEN.
PREFATORY STATEMENT.

The Commission of Nineteen on Polity was created by the
National Council at Boston in October, 1910, and grew out
of certain recommendations of a Committee of Twenty-Five
which had been sitting during the sessions of the Council.
The portion of the report of the Committee of Twenty-Five
which applied to the appointment of this Commission is as
follows:

'^Resolved, That the Council appoint a Commission of Nine-
teen on Polity, empowered to fill its o"\vn vacancies, to give
consideration to the questions referred to it by this Council, to
formulate a consistent and practicable scheme of administra-
tion, and to submit to the next Council a constitution and
by-laws which embody their judgment, and that this resolution
serve as the notification required bj'^ the constitution for such
amendments."

"Resolved, That the Council hereby declares in favor of the
enlarged conception of the secretaryship, laying upon that office
added advisory and administrative service; and the Commis-
sion of Nineteen is hereby authorized to select and nominate
a general secretary to the Provisional Committee."

"Resolved, That the Provisional Committee be authorized
to provide for the expense of the meetings of this commission
and for the expense of the secretaryship as herein outlined."

"Resolved, That the questions of more frequent sessions of the
Council, the payment of expenses of delegates, and an equal
representation of ministers and laymen, and any other ques-
tions pertaining to the work of the Commission, be referred to
the Commission of Nineteen on Polity."

The following were appointed members of the Commission
on Polity: President Frank K. Sanders, D.D., chairman,'
Kansas; Rev. Wilham E. Barton, D.D., secretary, Illinois;
Rev. Nehemiah Boynton, D.D., New York; President Charles
S. Nash, D.D., California; Professor Williston Walker, D.D.,

1913.] REPORT OF THE COMMISSION OF NINETEEN. 333

Coimofticut; Mr. William W. Mills, Ohio; Rev. Henry A.
Stinisoii, D.D., New York; Rev. Oliver Huekel, D.D., Mary-
land; Dr. Lucien C. Warner, LL.D., New York; Rev. Charles
S. Mills, D.D., then of Missouri, now of New Jersey; Rev.
Rockwell H. Potter, U.D., Connecticut; Hon. John M. White-
head, Wisconsin; Mr. Frank. Kimball, Illinois; Hon. Henrj^
M. Beardsley, Missouri; Rev. Henry H. Kelsey, D.D., Ohio;
President Edward D. Eaton, D.D., Wisconsin; Hon. Samuel
B. Capen, LL.D., Massachusetts; Hon. Arthur H. Wellman,
Massachusetts; Rev. Raymond Calkins, D.D.,then of Maine,
now of Massachusetts.

The Commission elected its chairman and secretary and
chose the following standing committees of the Commission:

On Constitutio7i, Messrs. Barton, Eaton, and Whitehead.

On the Relation of the Council to the Societies, Messrs. Walker,
Capen, Calkins, Potter, Welhnan, and Warner.

On the Secretary ship, Messrs. Nash, Kelsey, and Walker.

On Finance, Messrs. Kimball, Bo\Titon, W^amer, Beardsley,
and W. W. Mills.

On Publicity, the Chairman and Secretary of the Commission,
and Messrs. C. S. Mills, Beardsley, and Calkins.

The Commission organized immediately on its appointment.
It held a meeting in Boston on Tuesday, October 18, 1910.
It held its second meeting in Chicago, December 13-15, 1910,
every one of the nineteen members being present. A third
meeting was held in Cleveland on May 2-4, 1911, sixteen mem-
bers being present, one being absent in Europe, one detained
by pressing denominational business, and the other by serious
illness in his home. A fourth meeting was held in Chicago on
October 13 and 14, 1911, fifteen members being present. An
informal meeting was held at Portland, Me., in October, 1912,
in connection with the meeting of the American Board. The
fifth formal meeting was held in Detroit, on January 28-29,
fifteen members being present. Two were detained by im-
perative engagements, one was seriously ill, and one was out
of the countrj'. The final meeting was held in Kansas City,
Mo., October 21-25, 1913. Seventeen members attended this
meeting, one being detained, and one being in India. The
Commission convened twenty-four hours before the opening of
the Council, held five open and eight executive sessions, and

334 REPORT OF THE COMMISSION OF NINETEEN. [1913.

may indeed almost be said to have been in continuous session
from the time of its arrival in Kansas City upon Tuesday morn-
ing until the adoption of its report on Saturday afternoon.

Throughout the three years of its service it was in cor-
respondence with churches, associations, and conferences,
receiving more than one thousand letters, all of which were
carefully considered. Through its committees it held important
conferences with missionary societies and other organizations.
Its tentative conclusions were never published until the Com-
mission had fully agreed upon them, but when such agreement
had been reached, it gave immediate publication to its findings,
with the broadest possible invitation to criticism.

Certain fundamental demands of the churches for their
work through the Council had become evident by the time
of the publication of the Commission's first tentative report
in January, 1911, and these have been adhered to through-
out; but no pride which it might have felt in its own con-
sistency has restrained the Commission from any change which
it came to believe the churches were demanding. Hence
the report has been modified repeatedly, and the Commission
gratefully acknowledges the value of the criticism it has re-
ceived. It is hardly too much to say that the report as finally
adopted was the product of a thousand suggestions, as well
as of the untiring industry of the Commission. The changes
made grew less and less vital as the work proceeded, concerning
at the beginning broad questions of policy and later, in general,
matters of detail. Several such minor changes, the result of
conference in the open hearings of the Commission, were made
as late as midnight of the day preceding the final vote.

The test votes of the Council leading to the final adoption
of the report and of the constitution were notable alike for
what they manifested of individual loyalty to conscience and a
wonderful and vital unity that binds us together as a denomina-
tion. May we not all believe that we have been guided by a
higher wisdom than that of the Commission or the Council,
and that we have new reason to declare, as in the adoption of
this constitution we have declared, our dependence on the Spirit
of God, to lead the Council and the Church in days to
come.

1913.] REPORT OF THE COMMISSION OF NINETEEN. 335

This prefatory statement is no part of our adopted report,
but is herewith printed at the request of the Commission and
by permission of the Council, for purposes of information.

Frank K. Sanders,

Chairman of the Commission.

William E. Barton,
Secretary of the Commission.

REPORT.

To THE Delegates to the National Council:

The report, though essentially a unit, may be divided for
convenience of discussion into three sections: those on the
constitution, the missionary societies, and the secretaryship.
The discussion of the report in the Council might, if desired,
be thus divided, though the various sections of the report are
so intimately related that one is bound up in the other. A
couple of illustrations may make this connection more evident.
It is proposed, for instance, that the Council meet biennially
and that the membership of the Council become voting mem-
bers in all the societies, home and foreign. The societies will
continue to meet annually. It is evident that the effective
representation of the churches in the societies, through the
Council, is closely bound up with the increased permanence
of the membership of the Council, as recommended in the
section on the constitution. Should the Council remain a
bodj^ meeting for a few days only, and then dissolving its
membership, there would be no effective representation of the
churches through the Council in those meetings of the societies
held in the years in which the Council did not itself meet.

In a similar way, the question of the further incorporation
of the Council is closely bound up with its relation to the so-
cieties. Many in our churches would be glad to see the Council
incorporated directly, instead of through a body of trustees,
as is now the case — an arrangement approved by the Council
at its last session in Boston in 1910. But to a considerable
number of those associated with the management of our socie-
ties, including lawyers of eminent repute, it has seemed legally
injudicious that a corporation, such as each of the societies now

336 REPORT OF THE COMMl.^'iOX OF .VINETEEX. :1913.

is, should be submitted to another leguUy iiicorporated body.
They have no insuperable objection to making the membership
of the National Council the majority voting membership of
each of the societies, and thus linking the societies intimately
with the churches, but they see reason to fear legal complica-
tions should the Council as such become a fully incorporated
body. The Commission, therefore, recomm.ends no further
incorporation of the Council than at present. These examples
may show the close connection between the various sections of
the report.

The Constitution.

The first report of the Committee on Constitution as made
to the Commission of Nineteen on Polity at its meeting in
Chicago in December, 1910, Avas discussed, amended, and
approved for distribution amoDg the churches. Ten thousand
copies were printed and copies were sent to every Congrega-
tional minister and to the official boards of all oiu- benevolent
societies, and to all who applied, the entire edition being thus
exhausted, a few copies only being held in reserve.

The fullest possible discussion was invited, and letters and
resolutions numbering more than a thousand were received
and given careful attention. The Commission is grateful for
all expressions, both favorable and adverse, which have assisted
it in learning the will of the churches.

Important modifications were made, and a revised report
was submitted to the Commission at its meeting at Detroit
in January, 1913. After the adjournment of this meeting,
certain adjustments remained to be made, and these have in-
volved important conferences and extended correspondence.

This section of the report is, in its general provisions, un-
changed from the report originally sent to the churches by
the Commission for their consideration and suggestion. It
has, however, been carefully rewritten, in view of suggestions
received, and in some few points modified. It provides, as in
the original report, for biennial sessions of the Council and for
the election of the members of the Council in such a way that
ultimately each representative of the churches shall serve for
two successive councils, and a greater permanency for the
Council be thus secured. The desirability of such increased

1913.] REPORT OF THE COMMISSION OF NINETEEN. 337

permanency in relation to the missionary societies has already
been indicated. The provision for a more permanent nominat-
ing committee, vnth the possibility of a more careful considera-
tion of nominations, has been retained. On the other hand, it
has seemed best to the Commission that the present basis of
representation in the Council should be preserved, lest the
Council should grow unAneldy in numbers, and that the modera-
tor should be chosen by the Council at which he is to serve,
and not by its predecessor. Undoubtedly he could make more
careful preparation for his important duties were he thus
earlier chosen, but the Commission, on the whole, deems it
unwise to depart from the usual custom that a deliberative
body shall choose its own presiding officer.

The Societies.

In regard to the societies, as has already been indicated in
the denominational press, the report now submitted departs
radical^ from that originally laid before the churches. The
former proposition that a " Home Board of Missions " be
created has aroused much criticism and has been abandoned.
Instead, the Commission recommends that the National
Council, as such, shall become the majority of the voting mem-
bership of each of the societies, home and foreign. Each
society shall also have the right to choose, in addition to the
membership of the National Council, a certain number of
corporate members-at-large, so that the support of special
friends and benefactors of its work may be retained. Further-
more, the work of all the societies shall be placed mider the
advisory supervision of a " Commission on Missions " chosen by
the National Council, a minority being nominated by the
societies themselves. By these recommendations all the mis-
sionary societies will be brought into direct and similar rela-
tions with the churches through the National Council, and will
be under the supervision of a single commission of that Council.
That commission can also serve, if the Council so orders, as
the Apportionment Commission.

The Secretaryship.

The aim of the Commission of Nineteen regarding the
secretaryship has been that of increasing its helpfulness. Its

338 REPORT OF THE COMMISSION OF NINETEEN. [1913.

conception of the office is that of brotherly cooperation and
acquaintance with the common problems of denominational
life among us. While the purpose of the Commission regarding
the secretaryship has not changed, there has evidently been
misunderstanding, in some of our churches, as to just what it is
that the Commission has in mind regarding this office, and this
section of the report has been rewritten in the interest of greater
de&iiteness and the avoidance of possible misapprehension.

At its meeting in Boston in October, 1910, the Council
adopted resolutions " in favor of the enlarged conception of the
secretaryship, laying upon that office added advisory and
administrative service," and authorized the Commission of
Nineteen " to select and nominate a general secretary to the
Provisional Committee." In discharge of this duty the Com-
mission has given continuous attention to the secretaryship.
A report was made to the churches setting forth at some length
the Commission's conception of the expanded office and its
chief duties. This report called out considerable discussion,
which has received the earnest consideration of the Conmiission.
The Commission is confident that the sentiment of our churches
and ministers is in favor of some enlargement of the duties of
the secretary, and it is in entire accord with the general desire
that the office, as expanded, be so defined and its service so
regulated as to cause no impairment of our local autonomy.

The enlargement of the duties of the secretary now proposed
is the direct consequence of the enlargement of the duties of
the Council whose representative he is. Its aim is to secure the
more effective performance of the tasks to which the Council
has set itself in its endeavors to achieve a " more efficient
Congregationalism." The present duties of the secretary
must, of course, be maintained in their existing high state of
efficiency. In three specific directions, how^ever, the Com-
mission believes that the service of the secretary in carrying on
the work of thg Council may be wisely enlarged.

First, as Secretary of the Commission on Missions, he would
serve it and through it the churches in the two great tasks
immediately confronting them: (1) the work of coordinating
and readjusting our missionary activities; and (2) the more
efficient financing of those activities, through the Apportion-
ment Plan and other plans which may be devised.

1913.] REPORT OF THE COMMISSION OF NINETEEN. 339

Second, as one widely acquainted with the interests of the
churches, the seciretary would be in a position, when invited,
to give helpful advice in their problems and to make sugges-
tions looldng toward their greater efficiency. In the judgment
of the Connnission, no larger service can be rendered by the
Council in our portion of the kingdom of God than that of
assisting local churches towards a more vigorous and effective
life. In this work, as far as permitted by the churches them-
selves, the secretary would be the representative of the Council.
This service — the extent of which can only be determined by
experiment — may ultimately demand appointment, by the
National Council, of a committee, selected from those expert
in various departments of church activities, with whose mem-
bers the secretary could advise as to the problems in which'their
judgment could be of aid, and in which his counsel could, there-
fore, have the added weight that comes from united considera-
tion.

Third, to enlarge his acquaintance with the churches and
their needs, the secretary should, as far as possible, respond to
invitations to be present at state conferences and other gather-
ings of the churches. Like the moderator, he may also represent
the CongTegational churches in interdenominational relations —
a matter of increasing importance in these days when co-
operation between Christians of various names is constantly
coming into greater recognition.

The Enacting Resolutions.

In accordance with notice given at the meeting of the Na-
tional Council in Boston, October, 1910, the Commission of
Nineteen on Polity presented to the National Coimcil in session
at Kansas City, Mo., on Saturday, October 25, 1913, the follow-
ing resolutions, which were adopted with but one dissenting vote:

"Resolved, That the Constitution and By-Laws contained in
the report submitted by the Commission of Nineteen be adopted,
the same to go into effect at once, except in the particulars
hereinafter specified :

"1. All committees and officers of the Council now existing
shall continue until the close of the meeting, and until their
successors under this Constitution are appointed,

" 2. The Executive Committee and the Commission on

340 REPORT OF THE COMMISSION OF NINETEEN. [1913.

Missions shall be nominated for election by the present Nomi-
nating Committee.

" 3. The Commission on Missions shall be constituted when
the members are nominated and elected; and it is empowered
to receive the nomination and elect to membership a representa-
tive of any of the authorized missionary societies which have
not made nominations of a representative in time for election
by this Council.

" 4. The moderator shall nominate for election the new
nominating committee of nine members to serve from the close
of this meeting.

" 5. The Constitution and By-Laws heretofore in force are
superseded."

Frank K. Sanders, Chairman. Frank Kimball.

William E. Barton, Secretary. Charles S. Mills.

Henry M. Beardsley. William W. Mills.

Nehemiah Boynton. Charles S. Nash.

Raymond Calkins. Rockwell H. Potter.

Samuel B. Capen. Henry A. Stimson.

Edward D. Eaton. Williston Walker.

Oliver Huckel. Lucien C. Warner.

Henry H. Kelsey. Arthur H. Wellman.

John M. Whitehead.

CONSTITUTION.

The Congregational Churches of the United States, by
delegates in National Council assembled, reserving all the
rights and cherished memories belonging to this organization
under its former constitution, and declaring the steadfast
allegiance of the churches composing the Council to the faith
which our fathers confessed, which from age to age has found
its expression in the historic creeds of the Church universal
and of this communion, and affirming our loyalty to the basic
principles of our representative democracy, hereby set forth the
things most surely believed among us concerning faith, polity,
and fellowship:

Faith.

We believe in God the Father, infinite in wisdom, goodness,
and 'ove; and in Jesus Christ, his Son, our Lord and Saviour,

1913.] REPORT OF THE COMMISSION OF NINETEEN. 341

who for us and our salvation lived and died and rose again and
liveth evermore; and in the Holy Spirit, who taketh of the
things of Christ and revealeth them to us, rene"v\dng, comforting,
and inspiring the souls of men. We are united in striving to
know the will of God as taught in the Holy Scriptures, and in
our purpose to walk in the ways of the Lord, made knowTi or to
be made known to us. We hold it to be the mission of the
Church of Christ to proclaim the gospel to all mankind, exalting
the worship of the one true God, and laboring for the progress
of knowledge, the promotion of justice, the reign of peace, and
the realization of human brotherhood. Depending, as did our
fathers, upon the continued guidance of the Holy Spirit to
lead us into all truth, we work and pray for the transformation
of the world into the kingdom of God; and we look with faith
for the triumph of righteousness and the life everlasting.

Polity.

We believe in the freedom and responsibility of the individual
soul, and the right of private judgment. We hold to the au-
tonomy of the local church and its independence of all ecclesias-
tical control. We cherish the fellowship of the churches, united
in district, state, and national bodies, for counsel and coopera-
tion in matters of common concern.

The Wider Fellowship.

While affirming the liberty of our churches, and the validity
of our ministry, we hold to the unity and catholicity of the
Church of Christ, and will unite with all its branches in hearty
cooperation; and wdll earnestly seek, so far as in us lies, that
the prayer of our Lord for his disciples may be answered, that
they all may be one.

United in support of these principles, the Congregational
Churches in National Council assembled agree in the adoption
of the following Constitution:

Article I. — Name.

The name of this body is the National Council of the Con-
gregational Churches of the United States.

342 REPORT OF THE COMMISSION OF NINETEEN. [1913.

Article II. — Purpose.

The purpose of the National Council is to foster and express
the substantial unity of the Congregational churches in faith,
polity, and work; to consult upon and devise measures and
maintain agencies for the promotion of their common interests;
to cooperate with any corporation or bodj' under control of or
affiliated wdth the Congregational churches, or any of them;
and to do and to promote the ' work of the Congregational
churches of the United States in their national, international,
and interdenominational relations.

Article III. — Members.

1. Delegates, (a) The churches in each District Associa-
tion shall be represented by one delegate. Each association
having more than ten churches shall be entitled to elect one
additional delegate for each additional ten churches or major
fraction thereof. The churches in each State Conference shall
be represented by one delegate. Each conference having
churches whose aggregate membership is more than ten thou-
sand shall be entitled to elect one additional delegate for each
additional ten thousand members or major fraction thereof.
States having associations but no conference, or vice versa,
shall be entitled to their full representation.

(6) Delegates shall be divided, as nearly equally as practi-
cable, between ministers and lajonen.

(c) The Secretary and the Treasurer shall be members,
ex officiis, of the Council.

(d) Any delegate who shall remove from the bounds of the
conference or association by which he has been elected to the
Council shall be deemed by the fact of that removal to have
resigned his membership in the Council, and the Conference or
Association may proceed to fill the unexpired term by election.

2. Honorary Members. Former moderators and assistant
moderators of the Council, ministers serving the churches
entertaining the Council, persons selected as preachers or to
prepare papers, or to serve upon committees or commissions
chosen by the Council, missionaries present who are in the
service of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign
Missions and have been not less than seven years in that service,

1913.] REPORT OF THE COMMISSION OF NINETEEN. 343

together with one delegate each from such theological seminaries
and colleges as are recognized by the Council, may be enrolled
as honorary members and shall be entitled to all privileges of
members in the meeting of the Council except those of voting
and initiation of business.

3. Corresponding Members. The Council shall not increase
its own voting membership, but members of other denomina-
tions, present by invitation or representing their denominations,
representatives of Congregational bodies in other lands, and
other persons present who represent important interests, or
have rendered distinguished services, may, by vote, be made
corresponding members, and entitled to the courtesy of the floor.

4. Vacancies and Alternates. Each state or district organiza-
tion may provide in its ovm way for filling vacancies in its
delegation. In the absence of any special rule on the part of
such state or district body, the Council will recognize the right
of the delegates present to fill vacancies in their own delega-
tion.

An alternate or substitute enrolled as a member of the Council
and certified to the societies for membership therein shall be
thereafter deemed a member instead of the primary delegate
for the term for which that delegate was elected.

5. Terms of Membership. At its stated meeting in 1915,
the National Council will divide all delegates, unless they shall
have been so divided by the bodies electing them, into two
classes, to serve respectively for two and four years. There-
after the term of delegates shall be four years.

The term of a member shall begin at the opening of the next
stated meeting of the Council after his election, and shall expire
with the opening of the second stated meeting of the Council
thereafter. He shall be a member of any intervening special
meeting of the Council.

Article IV. — Meetings.

1. Stated Meetings. The churches shall meet in National
Council once in two years, the time and place of meeting to
be announced at least six months previous to the meeting.

2. Special Meetings. The National Council shall convene in
special meeting whenever any seven of the general state or-
ganizations so request.

344 REPORT OF THE COMMISSION OF NINETEEN. [1913.

3. Quorum. Delegates present from a majority of the states
entitled to representation in the Comicil shall constitute a
quorum.

Article V. — By-Laws.

The Council may make and alter By-Laws at any stated
meeting by a two-thirds vote of members present and voting;
provided, that no new By-Law shall be enacted and no By-Law
altered or repealed on the day on which the change is proposed.

Article VL — • Amendments.

This Constitution shall not be altered or amended, except
at a stated meeting, and by a two-thirds vote of those present
and voting, notice thereof having been given at a previous
stated meeting, or the proposed alteration having been re-
quested by some general state organization of churches entitled
to representation in the Council, and published with the notifica-
tion of the meeting.

BY-LAWS.
I. — ^The Call of a Meeting of the Council.

1. The call for any meeting shall be issued by the Executive
Committee and signed by their chairman and by the Secretary
of the Council. It shall contain a list of topics proposed for
consideration at the meeting. The Secretary shall seasonably
furnish blank credentials and other needful papers to the scribes
of the several district and state organizations of the churches
entitled to representation in the Council.

2. The meetings shall ordinarily be held in the latter part
of October.

II. — The Formation of the Roll.

Immediately after the call to order the Secretary shall
collect the credentials of delegates present, and these persons
shall be prima facie the voting membership for purposes of
immediate organization. Contested delegations shall not
delay the permanent organization, but shall be referred to
the Committee on Credentials, all contested delegations
refraining from voting until their contest is settled.

1018.] REPORT OF THE COMMISSION OF NINETEEN. 345

III. — The Moderator.

1. At each stated meeting of the Council there shall be
chosen from among the members of the Council, a Modera-
tor and a first and a second Assistant Moderator, who shall
hold office for two years and until their successors are elected
and quahfied.

2. The Moderator immediately after his election shall take
the chair, and after prayer shall at once proceed to complete
the organization of the Council.

3. The representative function of the Moderator shall be
that of visiting and addressing churches and associations upon
their invitations, and of representing the Council and the
Congregational churches in the wider relations of Christian
fellowship, so far as he may be able and disposed. It is under-
stood that all his acts and utterances shall be devoid of authority
and that for them shall be claimed and to them given only such
weight and force as inhere in the reason of them.

4. The Moderator shall preside at the opening of the stated
meeting of the Council following that at which he is elected,
and may deliver an address on a subject of his own selection.

IV. — The Secretary.

The Secretary shall keep the records and conduct the cor-
respondence of the Council and of the Executive Committee.
He shall edit the Year-Book and other pubUcations, and shall
send out notices of all meetings of the Council and of its Execu-
tive Committee. He shall aid the committees and commis-
sions of the Council and shall be secretary of the Commission
on Missions. He shall be available for advice and help in
matters of polity and constructive organization, and render to
the churches such services as shall be appropriate to his office.
He may, like the Moderator, represent the Council and the
churches in interdenominational relations. For his aid one or
more assistants shall be chosen at each meeting of the Council
to serve during such meeting.

V. — The Treasurer.

The Treasurer shall receive and hold all income contributed
or raised to meet the expenses of the Council, shall disburse

346 REPORT OF THE COMMISSION OF NINETEEN. [1913.

the same on the orders of the Executive Committee, and
shall give bond in such sum as the Executive Committee shall
from time to time determine.

VI. — Term of Office.

The term of office of the Secretary, Treasurer, and of any
other officer not otherwise provided for shall begin at the close
of the meeting at which they are chosen, and continue until
the close of the next stated meeting, and until their successors
are elected and qualified.

VII. — Committees.

As soon as practicable after taking the chair, the Moderator
shall cause to be read to the Council the names proposed by
the Nominating Committee for a Business Committee and a
Committee on Credentials. These names shall be chosen so as
to secm-e representation to different parts of the comitry, and
the names shall be published in the denominational papers at
least one month before the meeting of the Council, and printed
with the call of the meeting. The Council may approve these
nominations or change them in whole or in part.

1. The Committee on Credentials. The Committee on Cre-
dentials shall prepare and report as early as practicable a roll of
members. Of this committee the Secretary shall be a member.

2. The Business Committee. The Business Committee shall
consist of not less than nine members. It shall prepare a
docket for the use of the Council, and subject to its approval.
All business to be proposed to the Council shall first be pre-
sented to this committee, but the Council may at its pleasure
consider any item of business for which such provision has been
refused by the committee.

3. The Nominating Committee. The Nominating Committee
shall consist of nine members, to be elected by the Council on
the nomination of the Moderator, and shall serve from the close
of one stated meeting till the close of the following stated meet-
ing of the Council. Five members shall be so chosen for four
years, and four for two years, and thereafter members shall
be chosen for four years. This committee shall nominate to
the Council all officers, committees, and commissions for which

1913.] REPORT OF THE COMMISSION OF NINETEEN. 347

the Council does not otherwise provide. But the Council
may, at its pleasui'e, choose committees, commissions, or officers
by nomination from the floor or otherwise as it shall from time
to time determine.

4. The Executive Committee. The Executive Committee
shall consist of the Moderator, the Secretary, and nine other
persons, and shall be so chosen that the terms of the elected
members shall ultimately be six years, the term of three mem-
bers expiring at each stated meeting of the Council.

5. Other Committees. (1) Other conmiittees may be ap-
pointed from time to time, and in such manner as the Council
shall determine, to make report during the meeting at which
they are appointed.

(2) On such committees any member of the Council, voting
or honorary, is eligible for service.

(3) All such committees terminate their existence with the
meeting at which they are appointed.

(4) No question or report will be referred to a committee
except by vote of the Council.

(5) Committees shall consist of five persons unless otherwise
stated.

(6) Unless otherwise ordered, the first named member of a
committee shall be chairman.

VIII. — The Executive Committee.

1. The Executive Committee shall transact such business
as the Council shall from time to time direct, and in the intervals
betw^een meetings of the Council shall represent the Council
in all matters not belonging to the corporation and not other-
wise provided for. They shall have authority to contract for
all necessary expenditures and to appoint one or more of their
number who shall approve and sign all bills for payment; shall
consult the interests of the Comicil and act for it in intervals
between meetings m all matters of business and finance, subject
to the approval of the Council; and shall make a full report of
all their doings, the consideration of wiiich shall be fu'st in
order of business after organization.

2. They may fill any vacancy occurring in their owiti number
or in any commission, committee, or office in the intervals

348 REPORT OF THE COMMISSION OF NINETEEN. [1913.

of meeting, the persons so appointed to serve until the next
meeting of the Council .

3. They shall appoint any committee or commission ordered
by the Council, but not otherwise appointed; and committees
or commissions so appointed shall be entered in the minutes as
by action of the Council.

4. They shall select the place, and shall specify in the call
the place and precise time at which each meeting of the Council
shall begin.

5. They shall pro\'ide a suitable form of voucher for the
expenditures of the Council, and shall secm'e a proper auditing
of its accounts.

6. They shall prepare a definite program for the Council,
choosing a preacher and selecting topics for discussion and
persons to prepare and present papers thereon.

7. They shall assign a distinct time, not to be changed except
by special vote of the Council, for

(a) The papers appointed to be read before the Council.

(6) The commissions appointed by one Council to report
at the next, which may present the topics referred to them for
discussion or action.

(c) The benevolent societies and theological seminaries.

All other business shall be set for other specified hours, and
shall not displace the regular order, except by special vote of
the Council.

IX. — Commissions.

1. Special committees appointed to act ad interim, other
than the Executive Conamittee and Nominating Committee,
shall be designated as conunissions.

2. Commissions are expected to report at the next meeting
following their appointment, and no commission other than
the Commission on Missions shall continue beyond the next
stated meeting of the Council except by special vote of the
Council.

3. No commission shall incur expense except as authorized
by the Council, or its Executive Committee.

4. Any member in good standing of a Congregational church
is eligible for service on any commission, or ad interim com-
mittee.

1913.] REPORT OF THE COMMISSION OF NINETEEN. 349

5. Commissions shall choose their own. chairmen, but the
first named member shall call the first meeting and act as
temporary'' chairman during the organization of the commission.

X. — Congregational National Societies.

With the consent of our National Missionary Societies,
whose approval is a necessary preliminary, the following shall
define the relation of these societies to the National Council :

The foreign missionary work of the Congregational churches
of the United States shall be carried on under the auspices of
the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
and the cooperating Woman's Boards of Missions; and the
home missionary work of these churches, for the present under
the auspices of the Congregational Home Missionary Society,
the American Missionary Association, the Congregational
Education Society, the Congregational Church Building Society,
the Congregational Sunday-School and Publishing Society,
and the Congregational Board of Ministerial Relief, hereinafter
called the Home Societies, and the Woman's Home Missionary
Federation.

1. The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis-
sions. Tills Board and the cooperating Woman's Boards shall
be the agency of the Congregational churches for the extension
of Christ's kingdom abroad.

a. Membership. The voting membership of the American
Board shall consist, in addition to the present life members, of
two classes of persons, (a) One class shall be composed of the
members of the National Comicil, who shall be deemed nomi-
nated as corporate members of the American Board bj'' their
election and certification as members of the said National
Council, said nominations to be ratified and the persons so
named elected by the American Board. Their terms as cor-
porate members of the American Board shall end, in each case,
when they cease to be members of the National Comicil. (h)
There may also be chosen by the American Board one hundred
and fifty corporate members-at-large. The said one hundred
and fifty corporate members-at-large shall be chosen m three
equal sections, and so chosen that the term of each section shall
be ultimately six years, one section being chosen every second

350 REPORT OF THE COMMISSION OF NINETEEN. [1913.

year at the meeting in connection with the meeting of the
National Council. No new voting members, other than herein
provided, shall be created.

h. Officers and Committees. The officers and committees of
the American Board shall be such as the Board itself may from
time to time determine.

c. Meetings. Regular meetings of the American Board shall
be held annually. That falling in the same year in which the
National Council holds its meeting shall be held in connection
with the meeting of said Council. Meetings in other years
shall be held at such time and place as the Board may determine.
Important business, especially such as involves extensive
modifications of pohcy, shall, so far as possible, be reserved for
consideration in those meetings held in connection with the
meeting of the National Council.

d. Reports. It shall be the duty of the American Board to
make a full and accurate report of its condition and work to the
National Council at each stated meeting of that body.

2. The Home Societies. These societies, with the Woman's
Home Missionary Federation, shall be the agencies of the Con-
gregational chm'ches for the extension of Christ's kingdom in
the United States.

a. Membership. The voting membership of the several
home societies shall consist, in addition to such existing life
members and other members of the society in question as may
be regarded as legally necessary, of two classes of persons.

(a) One class shall be composed of the members of the Na-
tional Council so long as they remain members of said Council.

(6) There may also be chosen corporate members-at-large
by the said societies, in the following numbers, viz.: by the
Congregational Home Missionary Society, ninety; by the
American Missionary Association, sixty; by the Congregational
Church Building Society, thirty; by the Congregational Educa-
tion Society, eighteen; by the Congregational Sunday-School
and Pubhshing Society, eighteen; and by the Congregational
Board of Ministerial ReHef , nine. The said corporate members-
at-large shall be chosen by each of the said societies in three
equal sections and so chosen that the term of each section shall
be ultimately six years, one section being chosen every second
year at the meeting held in connection with the meeting of the

1913.] REPORT OF THE COMMISSION OF NINETEEN. 351

National Council. In this selection one fifth of the said corpo-
rate members-at-large may be chosen from the organizations for
the support of Congregational activities affiliated in the
Woman's Home Missionary Federation. No new voting mem-
bers, other than herein provided, shall be created by any society.

b. Officers and Committees. The officers and committees of
the several home societies shall be such as the societies them-
selves may from time to time determine.

c. Meetings. Regular meetings of the Home Societies
shall be held annually. Those falling in the same year in
which the National Council holds its meeting shall be held in
comiection wth the meeting of said Council. Meetings in
other years shall be held at such times and places as the socie-
ties themselves may determine. Important business, especially
such as involves extensive modifications of pohcy, shall, so
far as possible, be reserved for consideration in those meetings
held in connection wdth the meeting of the National Council.

d. Reports. It shall be the duty of each of the Home So-
cieties to make a full and accurate report of its condition and
work to the National Council at each stated m.eeting of that
body.

XI. — The Commission on -Missions.

1. On nomination by the standing Committee on Nomina-
tions, the National Council shall elect fourteen persons, and
on nomination by the several national societies, home and
foreign, shall also elect one person from each society, and on
similar nomination one each from the whole body of Woman's
Boards of Foreign Missions and from the Woman's Home
Missionary Federation; who, together with the Secretary of
the National Council ex officio, shall constitute a Commission
on Missions.

2, Members. The members of the Commission on Missions
shall be divided as nearly as possible into two equal sections
in such manner that the term of each section shall be ultimately
four years and the term of one section shall expire at each
biennial meeting of the Council. In these choices due con-
sideration shall be given to convenience of meeting, as well
as to the geographical representation of the churches. No
member except the Secretary of the National Coimcil, whether

352 REPORT OF THE COMMISSION OF NINETEEN. [1913.

nominated by the Standing Committee on Nominations of the
National Comicil or by the societies, who has served on said
Commission for two full successive terms of four years each,
shall be ehgible for reelection until after two years shall have
passed. Unpaid officers of any of the missionary societies
of the churches shall be eligible to this Commission, but no
paid officer or employee of a missionary society shall be eligible.
The Commission shall choose its own chairman, and have
power to fill any vacancy in its own number until the next stated
meeting of the Council.

3. Duties. While the Commission on Missions shall not be
charged with the details of the administration of the several
missionary societies, it shall be its duty to consider the work of
the home and foreign societies above named, to prevent duphca-
tion of missionary activities, to effect all possible economies in
administration, and to seek to correlate the work of the several
societies so as to secure the maximum of efficiency with the
minimum of expense. It shall have the right to examine the
annual budgets of the several societies and have access to their
books and records. It may freely give its advice to the said
societies regarding problems involved in their work, and it
shall make recommendations to the several societies w^hen, in
its judgment, their wotk can be made more efficient or economi-
cal. It shall make report of its action to the National Council
at each stated meeting of that body, and present to said Council
such recommendations as it may deem wise for the furtherance
of the efficiency and economical administration of the several
societies. In view of the evident conviction of a large portion
of the churches that the multiplicity of the Congregational
Home Societies is not consistent with the greatest economy and
efficiency, the Commission on Missions shall examine present
conditions and shall recommend to the National Council such
simphfication or consolidation as shall seem expedient.

4. Expenses. The members of the Commission on Missions
shall serve without salary. The necessary expenses of the
Commission shall be paid from the treasury of the National
Council, and said Council may limit the amount of expense
which may be incurred in any year. All bills for payment
shall be certified by the chairman of the Commission.

1913.] REPORT OF THE COMMISSION OF NINETEEN. 353

XII. — The CoRPORAiiON for the National Council.

1. The corporate members of the corporation shall consist of
fifteen persons, elected b}'' the Council at stated meetings, and
of the Moderator and Secretary associated ex officiis with them.

2. The terms for which corporate members are elected shall
be six years.

3. The corporate members elected at the meeting of 1910
are divided into two classes of eight and seven respectively.
The successors of the class of eight shall be chosen at the meet-
ing of 1913 and of the class of seven at the meeting of 1915.
Those so elected shall hold office until their successors are duly
elected.

4. The corporation shall have a treasurer. He shall ad-
minister his office as the by-laws of the corporation may provide.

5. The corporation shall receive and hold all property, real
and personal, of the Council, and all property, real and personal,
which may be conveyed to it in trust, or otherwise, for the
benefit of Congregational churches or of any Congregational
church; and acting for the Council between the meetings of
the Council in all business matters not otherA\dse delegated or
reserved, shall do such acts and discharge such trusts as properly
belong to such a corporation and are in conformity to the con-
stitution, rules, and instructions of the Council.

6. The corporation may adopt for its government and the
management of its affairs standing by-laws and rules not in-
consistent with its charter nor with the constitution, by-laws, and
rules of the Council.

7. The corporation shall make such reports to the Council
as the Council may require.

XIII. — Devotional and Other Services.

1. In the sessions of the National Council, half an hour
every morning shall be given to devotional services, and the
daily sessions shall be opened with prayer and closed with
prayer or singing. The evening sessions shall ordinarily be
given to meetings of a specially religious rather than of a busi-
ness character.

2. The Council will seek to promote in its sessions a distinctly
spiritual uplift, and to this end will arrange programs for the

354 REPOET OF THE COMMISSION OF NINETEEN. [1913.

presentation of messages for the general public attending such
gatherings. But the first concern of the Council shall be the
transaction of the business of the denomination so far as that
shall be intrusted to it by the churches; and the Council will
meet in separate or executive session during the delivery of
addresses whenever the necessity of the business of the Council
may appear to require it.

XIV. — Time Limitation.

No person shall occupy more than half an hour in reading
any paper or report, and no speaker upon any motion or resolu-
tion, or upon any paper read, shall occupy more than ten
minutes, without the unanimous consent of the Council.

In case of discussion approaching the time limit set for it,
the Moderator may announce the limitation of speeches to
less than ten minutes, subject to the approval of the Council.

XV. — The Printing of Reports.

Such reports from commissions and statements from socie-
ties or theological seminaries as may be furnished to the Secre-
tary seasonably in advance of the meeting may be printed at
the discretion of the Executive Committee, and sent to the
members elect, together with the program prepared. Not more
than ten minutes shall be given to the presentation of any such
report.

XVT. — The Publication of Statistics.

The Council will continue to make an annual compilation of
statistics of the churches, and a list of such ministers as are
reported by the several state organizations. The Secretary
is directed to present at each stated meeting comprehensive and
comparative summaries for the two years preceding.

XVII. — Fellowship with Other Bodies.

The Council, as occasion may arise, will hold communica-
tion with the general CongTegational bodies of other lands, and
with the general ecclesiastical organizations of other churches
of evangelical faith in our own land, by delegates appointed by
the Council or by the Executive Committee.

1913.] REPORT OF THE COMMISSION OF NINETEEN. 355

INTERPRETATIONS.

The following resolutions were adopted by the Council for
the guidance of such committees as may be affected :

1. Membership in the Council shall entitle one to voting
membership in the several benevolent societies only when the
certificate of election as delegate is approved by the Coromittee
on Credentials of the National Council.

2. In the absence of a delegate from the first stated meeting
of the Council after his election, the properly accredited sub-
stitute, being duty em-olled and present, succeeds the primary
delegate for the entire miexpired term.

3. If any delegate cannot be present at the first meeting
of the Council after his election, he may send his certificate of
election to the Committee on Credentials, and if his place is
not filled by a substitute, properly enrolled, the primary dele-
gate shall be enrolled as a member in absentia, such enrollment
being equivalent to attendance as evidence of membership.

4. The substitute for the primary delegate shall have the
same privilege of presenting his credentials in absentia _ ac-
corded to the delegate; and if said primary delegate shall not
be enrolled, and the credentials are approved, the name of the
substitute shall be inserted in the roll as having qualified as a
member of the Council.

"Resolved, That in interpreting the provisions of Article
II, Section 1, Subsection a, of the Constitution, adopted October
25, 1913, with regard to states having associations, but no
conference, or vice versa, the following rules shall prevail :

" If a state conference contains no district association, its
churches shall nevertheless be entitled to representation as if
they all constituted a single district association.

" If a state has no conference, but has one or more district
associations which belong to no conference, all such associations
in that state shall be entitled to representation as if they to-
gether constituted a state conference."

356 CHARTER — TRUSTEES OF NATIONAL COUNCIL. [I91i

CHARTER, THE CONGREGATIONAL BOARD OF
MINISTERIAL RELIEF.

"Resolution amending the Charter of the Trustees of the National
Council of the Congregational Churches of the United States.

" General Assembly, January Session, A.D. 1907.
"Resolved hy this Assembly:

" Section 1. That the body pohtic and corporate incor-
porated by resolution approved March 24, 1885, as The Trustees
of the National Council of the Congregational Churches of the
United States, shall hereafter be called and kno\^ai as The
Congregational Board of Ministerial Relief.

" Sect. 2. Henry A. Stimson, Joseph H. Seidell, Asher
Anderson, Washington Gladden, Guilford Dudley, Samuel B.
Forbes, H. Clark Ford, William H. Allbright, Livingston L.
Taylor, George R. Merrill, Martin Welles, Charles H. Richards,
Philip S. Moxom, Lucien C. Warner, and John Davis are hereby
constituted and declared to be the present members of said
corporation.

" Sect. 3. No act purporting to be the act of said corpora-
tion, heretofore performed, shall be affected or invalidated by
any invalidity or informality in the choice of members of said
corporation, but all such acts are hereby validated and con-
firmed.

" Sect. 4. The object of said corporation shall be to secure,
hold, manage, and distribute funds for the relief of needy Con-
gregational ministers and the needy families of deceased Con-
gregational ministers, in accordance with resolutions and decla-
rations adopted or made, from time to time, by the National
Council of the Congregational Churches of the United States,
or by any body which may succeed to the present functions
of that council; and said corporation may cooperate with any
other corporation or body which is under the charge and
control of churches of the Congregational order in the United
States, or of churches at the time affiliated with said order.

1913.] CHARTER — TRUSTEES OF NATIONAL COUNCIL. 357

' " Sect. 5. The said National Council, or its successor as
aforesaid, may, from time to time, make and alter rules, orders,
and regulations for the govermnent of said corporation, and
said corporation shall at all times be subject to its direction
and control; and the said National Council or such successor
thereof may, from time to time, determine who shall be mem-
bers of said corporation, may provide for filling vacancies in
their number, and may appoint and remove members thereof.
" Sect. 6. This resolution shall not be operative unless the
same shall be approved by said National Coimcil at its meeting
held in 1907."

The following was adopted by the National Council, 1907:

"Resolved, That the National Council of the Congregational
Churches of the United States at this its meeting in 1907
approves the resolution entitled, A Resolution ' amending the
Charter of the Trustees of the National Council of the Congre-
gational Churches of the United States,' passed by the General
Assembly of the State of Connecticut at its January session,
1907, and approved by the governor, March 27, 1907.

"Resolved, That the registrar of this Council forthwith for-
ward to the secretary of said state a certified copy of the fore-
going resolution of the approval, to be filed and recorded in his
office."

It was further voted by this National Council that the mem-
bership of the corporation now knowTi as the Congregational
Board of Ministerial Relief be changed so that said membership
shall, until different order is made by the Council, be as
follows :

Rev. Henry A. Stimson, Rev. Wm. H. Allbright, Rev. Chas.
H. Richards, B. H. Fancher, Rev. I-ouis F. Berry, H. Clark
Ford, Rev. George R. Merrill, Rev. Asher Anderson, Martin
Welles, Thomas C. MacMillan, Rev. Frank J. Goodwin, Rev.
Joseph H. Selden, Rev. Elliott W. Brown, Lucien C. Warner,
Guilford Dudley.

At a meeting of the Congregational Board of Ministerial
Relief held in New Haven, Coim., Tuesday, October 29, the
following By-Laws were adopted:

358 by-laws — ^ trustees of national council. [1913.

By-Laws,
adopted october 29, 1907.

1. The officers of the corporation known as The Congrega-
tional Board of Ministerial Relief shall be fifteen Directors,
from whom shall be chosen by the corporation a President,
Vice-President, Recording Secretary, a,nd Treasurer.

All these officers shall be elected by ballot and shall hold
their respective offices for the term of three years, or until their
successors are elected and qualified, unless removed by death,
disability, or resignation.

2. The duty of the President shall be to preside at the meet-
ings of the corporation and of the Directors ; to exercise a gen-
eral oversight of the affairs of the corporation; to execute the
instructions of the Directors, and to make such sugestions to
them as he may deem desirable.

3. The Vice-President shall discharge the duties of the
President in the absence of that officer.

4. The Directors, of whom not less than four shall constitute
a quormn, shall have the control, direction, and management
of the property and affairs of the corporation; shall fix salaries;
shall make rules in regard to the disbursement of money; shall
allot and distribute the income; shall accept devises, legacies,
and gifts upon the trusts respectively annexed to them; shall
appoint a committee of five as a Finance Committee, of whom
the Recording Secretary and Treasurer of the corporation
shall be members, and shall appoint an Auditing Committee;
shall buy, sell, and convey by their attorney appointed for
that purpose all real and personal property; shall fill vacancies
in their own number and in all offices, the appointments to
continue until the next meeting of the corporation; and shall
report for the corporation to the National Comicil.

5. The Recording Secretary, who shall be a resident of Con-
necticut, shall keep the records of the corporation, of the
Directors, and of the Finance Committee; shall issue all notices
for any meeting of either body, which notices shall be sent by
mail, postage paid, at least ten days before the date of the
meeting, and shall preserve all important documents.

6. The Directors shall appoint a Corresponding Secretary
or secretaries to conduct the correspondence, to collect funds.

1913.] BY-LAWS — TRUSTEES OF NATIONAL COUNCIL. 359

to represent the work before churches, conferences, and associa-
tions, to issue all orders on the Treasurer, to render such assist-
ance to the Recording Secretary as may be necessary, and to do
such other service as the Directors may require. He shall
report every month to tlje Directors.

7. The Treasm'er shall invest the funds of the corporation in
accordance with the instructions of the Directors, or, in the ab-
sence of such instructions, in accordance with the ^aitten
approval of the Finance Committee; shall have the custody of
such funds; shall disbui'se the same in accordance Vvdth the
rules and votes of the Directors; shall keep accm-ate accounts
of his receipts and expenditures, and shall make an annual
report to the Directors.

He shall give bonds for the faithful performance of his trust
for the term of three years, or until another person is appointed
Treasurer, in such smn as may be ordered from time to time by
the Directors.

8. The Auditing Committee shall annually, or oftener, in
their discretion, personally audit and examine the securities
belonging to the corporation and the accomits and vouchers
of the Treasurer, and shall report annually to the Directors.

9. The Finance Committee shall meet at least annually, and
more frequently if deemed by them advisable; shall make in-
vestments and reinvestments, subject to the approval of the
Directors; shall authorize all disbursements not specially
ordered by the Directors or by their rules ; shall provide methods
for the enlargement of the fmids of the corporation; and shall
have the immediate and direct management and oversight of
the funds and financial affairs of the corporation in the intervals
between the meetings of the Directors, and shall report annually
to the Directors.

Special meetings shall be held at the time and place named in
the call of the chairman.

10. Other officers and committees may be appointed as the
needs of the corporation may demand, and, in the intervals
between the meetings of the corporation, may be appointed by
the Directors.

11. A meeting of the corporation shall be held within ninety
days after the adjournment of the National Council, in the state
of Connect"cut, where all meetings of this corporation shall be

360 BY-LAWS — TRUSTEES OF NATIONAL COUNCIL. [1913.

held, at which the officers for the ensuing three years shall be
chosen.

The annual meeting of the Directors for the examination of
accounts of the reports of the Treasurer, Corresponding Secre-
tary, Auditing and Finance committees, and for the general
work of the corporation, shall be held in the month of September
in each year, at such place as the Directors shall determine.

Special meetings of the corporation or of the Directors may
be held upon the written call of the President or of any two
members of the corporation addressed to the President. Such
meetings shall be held at the place indicated by the President.

12. Any article of these By-Laws may be changed or amended
by a two-thirds vote of the members of the corporation present
at any meeting, one month's notice in writing of the proposed
change having been given, or at any meeting by unanimous
consent.

MINUTES.

The Fifteenth Triennial Session of the National Council of
the Congregational Churches of the United States convened in
the First Congregational Church, Kansas City, Mo., Wednes-
day, October 22, 1913, at 2 p.m., and was called to order by the
moderator. Rev. Nehemiah Bo>aiton, New York. " The
Church's One Foundation " was sung, the moderator read
1 Corinthians 13, and led in prayer.

Nominaiing Committee.

The moderator appointed the Nominating Committee as
follows: Rev. Harr}^ P. Dewe}', Minnesota; Samuel Usher,
Massachusetts; Rev. Ozora S. Davis, Illinois; Rev. Samuel
C. Bushnell, Massachusetts; George W. Marston, California.

Election of Moderator.

It was voted to limit nominating speeches to five minutes.

Rev. Horace Parker, California, nominated Rev. William H.
Day, California; Charles Prouty, Massachusetts, nominated
Rev. Charles R. BroA\ai, Connecticut; Rev. Watson L. Phillips,
Connecticut, nominated Rev. Samuel H. .Woodrow, Missouri,
and this nomination was seconded by J. C. Birge, Missouri;
Rev. AVilliam W. Jordan, Massachusetts, nominated William
W. Mills, Ohio; Rev. Pearse Pinch, South Dakota, seconded the
nomination of Rev. Charles R. BroA\Ti, Connecticut. William
W. Mills, Ohio, withdrew his name. Rev. Charles S. Nash,
California, seconded the nomination of Rev. William H. Day,
California; Rev. Frederick H. Page, Massachusetts, seconded
the nomination of William W. Mills, Ohio; Charles F. Petti-
john, Kansas, nominated Henry M. Beardsley, Missouri;
Rev. Charles C. Creegan, North Dakota, Rev. Frank G.
Smith, Missouri, and Rev. Cjtus F. Stimson, Maine, seconded
the nomination of Henry M. Beardsley; Rev. Henry A.

361

362 MINUTES. [1913.

Stimson, New York, nominated Rev. Charles S. Mills, New
Jersey.

The by-law making honorary members ineligible for modera-
tor was cited and Mr. Beardsley withdrew his name.

Rev. Charles R. Brown was elected moderator.

Rev. Henry A. Stimson, New York, nominated for first
assistant moderator Henry M. Beardsley, Missouri, and he was
unanimously elected.

Rev. Ozora S. Davis, Illinois, nominated Rev. Alexander C.
Garner, District of Columbia, for second assistant moderator,
and he was unanimously elected.

Tellers.

The moderator appointed as tellers, Rev. Arthur P. Pratt,
Vermont; Rev. Austin Rice, Massachusetts; A. M. Gibbons,
Ohio; Truman J. Spencer, Connecticut; Rev. Lewis T. Reed,
New York; Rev. Hobart K. Painter, Minnesota; Rev. Grant
L. Shaeffer, New Hampshire; Rev. John P. Miller, Minnesota.

Roll of Delegates.

Alabama.

Congregational Association.

Congregational District Conference. Rev. F. G. Ragland.

Bear Creek Association, 11. Rev. C. P. Lunsford.

Christiana Association, 9.

Clanton Association, 10. Mr. S. E. Norton.

Echo Association, 7.

Fair Hope Association, 6.

North East Alabama Association, 6.

Rose Hill Association, 10.

Tallapoosa Association, 9, Rev. J. M. Graham.

Tallassee Associatioji, 7. Rev. A. T. Clarke.

Third Congregational District, 5. Rev. Spencer Snell.

Arizona [1].
Congregational Conference. Rev. H. A. Deck.

1913.] MINUTES. 363

Arkansas.

[No State Association.]

California [2].

General Conference. Rev. H. A. Jump, Mr. Arthur
Arlet.

Bay Association. Rev. H. H. Wikoff, Rev. H. M, Tenney,
Rev. W. W. Ferrier, Rev. M. B. Fisher.

Humboldt Association, 8. Rev. Leland D. Rathbone.

Mt. Shasta Association, 11. (Unorganized.)

Sacramento Valley Association, 25. Rev. W. B. Redburn,
Rev. Arthur B. Patten.

San Joaquin Valley Association, 15. Rev. R. B. Cherrington,
Rev. H. R. Miles.

Sania Clara Association, 15. Rev. George E. Atkinson.

Sonoma Association, 11. Rev. Frank W. Dean.*

Upper Bay Association, 12. Rev. George Himnan.

Southern California [3].

General Congregational Association. Rev. WilHam
Horace Day.

Kern Association, 9. Rev. Edgar R. Fuller.

Los Angeles Association, 57. Mr. Fred M. Wilcox, Rev.
Ralph B. Larkin, Rev. Daniel F. Fox, Rev. S. R. Fisher, Rev.
J. M. Schaefle, Rev. J. H. Mallows.

San Bernardino Association, 20. Rev. J. H. Williams, Rev.
Horace Porter, Mr. John P. Fisk.

San Diego Association, 16. Rev. W. B. Thorp, Mr. George
W. Marston.

Colorado [2].

Congregational Association. Rev. Frank L. Moore, Rev.
Allen S. Bush.

Arkansas Valley Association, 17. Rev. W. W. Ranney, A. A.
Blackburn, M.D.

364 MINUTES. [1913.

Denver Association, 31. Rev. F. T. Bayley, Rev. F. J. Esta-
brook, Rev. Joel Harper.

Eastern Association, 10. Rev. Robert Allingham.

German Association, 20. Rev. J. C. Schwabenland.

Northwestern Association, 6. Rev. F. W. Hullinger.

Western Association, 18, Rev. F. A. Zickefoose, Rev. J. N.
Trompen.

Connecticut [8].

General Conference. Hon. Simeon E. Baldwin, Rev.
Charles R. Brown, Mr. Epaphroditus Peck, Rev. Charles F.
Carter, Rev. Oscar E. Maurer, Hon. John H. Perry, Mr.
William H. Parsons, Rev. H. W. Maier.

Central Conference, 14. Rev. Albert J. Lord.

Fairfield East Consociation, 19. Rev. A. T. Steele, Deacon
C. Z. Morse.

Fairfield West Consociation, 28. Rev. Louis F. Berry.

Farmington Valley Association, 19. Hon. A. T. Pattison,
Rev. Chas. E. Ewing.

Hartford Association, 23. Rev. Rockwell H. Potter, Prof.
Arthur Gillett, Mr. Truman J. Spencer.

Hartford East Association, 13. Rev. Charles M. Calderwood.

Litchfield Northeast Conference, 14. Deacon Elliott B. Bron-
son.

Litchfield Northwest Conference, 12.

Litchfield South Consociation, 17. Rev. John Hutchins, Rev.
Geo. H. Johnson.

Middlesex Conference, 30. Mr. F. M. Poor, Rev. E. E. Lewis.

Naugatuck Valley Conference, 20. Rev. A. E. Westenberg,
Mr. A. F. Sherwood.

New Haven East Consociation, 15. Rev. Daniel J. Clark.

New Haven West Association, 24. Rev. Watson L. Phillips,
Rev. F. A. Sumner.

New London County Conference, 31. James H, Weeks, M.D.,
Rev. F. M. Hollister, Rev, James W. Bixler,

Tolland County Conference, 21, Rev. Percy E. Thomas.

Windham Conference, 31. Mr, P, S. Hills, Rev. E. N. Pack-
ard, Mr. H. C. Lathrop.

7- /

1913.1 MINUTES. 365

District of Columbia,
(with new jersey.)

Florida [1].

General Conference. Mrs. F. P. Ensminger.

East Coast Association, 12. Mr. H. B. Minium.
Florida Western Association, 4.
Pensacola Association, 9. Rev. N. P. McQuarrie.
Shoal River Association, 11. Rev. W. F. Blackman.
Southeast Coast Association, 8. Rev. L. S. Woodworth.
South Florida Association, 13. Rev. Geo. B. Waldron.
St. Mary's River Association, 2.

Georgla [1].
General Conference Convention. Rev. W. L. Cash.
New Atlanta District Conference. Rev. Henry H. Proctor.

Georgia.

Middle Georgia Association, 17. Rev. Stephen H. Bassett,
Rev. J, F. Blackburn.

North Georgia Association. Rev. W. H. Hopkins, J. W.
Mason, Dr. J. W. Blosser.

Georgia Conference. Rev. E. Lyman Hood, Rev. G. L.
Hanscom, A. W. Farlinger.

Hawaii [Ij.

Hawaiian Evangelical Association. Rev. A. A. Ebersole,
W. A. Bowen.

Hawaiian Association, 33. Rev. O. H. Gulick, Mrs. 0. H.
Guhck.

Kauai Association, 14.

Maui Association, 38. Rev. Collins G. Burnham, Mrs. C. G.
Burnham.

Oahu Association, 19. Prof. C. H. Hitchcock, Mrs. W. A.
Bowne.

366 MINUTES. [1913.

Idaho [1].
Congregational Conference. Rev. Arthur J. SuUens.

Illinois [6].

General Association. Rev. John A. Holmes, Rev. George
T. McCollum, Rev. Harry E. Peabody, Rev. E. F. Snell, A. L.
Fanning, E. F. Hunter.

Aurora Association, 16. Rev. J. M. Lewis, Rev. Benjamin
H. Burtt.

Bureau Association, 17. Rev. L. W. Wiltberger, Rev. F. E.
Nugent.

Central Association, 9. Rev. John C. Myers.

Central East Association, 20. Rev. Hezekiah L. Pyle, Rev.
W. S. Dando.

Central West Association, 34. Rev. A. R. Thain, Rev. C. E.
McKinley, Rev. J. M. Stevens.

Chicago Association, 111. Rev. W. E. Barton, Mr. E. A.
Osbornson, Rev. W. W. Newell, Rev. William T. McElveen,
Mr. Samuel E. Knecht, Frank Kimball, Rev. Oscar Helming,
Rev. Clarence T. BrowTi, Mr. Charles B. Ball, Rev. A. N. Hitch-
cock, E. T. Harris, Frank H. Tuthill.

Elgin Association, 26. Rev. C. L. Morgan, Rev. W. R.
Dixon, Geo. M. Vial.

Fox River Association, 20. Rev. Charles R. Blood, Rev.
H. S. Roblee.

German Association, 10. Prof. Herman Oberhaus.

Quincy Association, 16. Rev. James R. Smith, Rev. W. E.
Griffith.

Rockford^Associatio7i, 16. Deacon Robert Short, Rev. D. E.
Todd.

Rock River Association, 14. Rev. Malcolm F. Miller.

Southern Association, 21. Rev. F. B. Hines, Rev. C. A.
Riley.

Springfield Association, 24. Rev. H. A. Cotton, Rev. David
R. Martin.

1913.] MINUTES. 367

Indiana [1].

General Conference. Rev. L. Curtis Talmage.

Central Association, 21. Mr. Herbert L. Whitehead, Rev.
Harr}' Blunt.

Fort Wayne Association, 9. Charles J. Buchanan.
Michigan City Association, 13. Rev. A. V. Ogilvie.

Iowa [5].

General Conference. Rev. J. T. Jones, Rev. W. J. Min-
chin, Rev. P. F. Marston, Mr. J. T. Pound, F. A. McCornack.

Council Bluffs Association, 33. Rev. Henry 0. Spelman, Rev.
John T. Walker, M. P. Brace.

Davenport Association, 23. Rev. Jay Jones, Rev. Arthur G.
Graves.

Denmark Association, 28. Rev. H. M. Lynian, Rev. P.
Adelstein Johnston, Rev. Malcolm Dana.

Des Moines Association, 29. Rev. Truman 0. Douglass, Jr.,
Mr. Galen Tilden, Rev, W. A. Briggs.

German Association, 8. Rev. William Loos.

Grinnell Association, 28. Rev. H. L. Wissler, Rev. B. F.
Martin, Rev. F. C. Gonzales.

Mitchell Association, 33. Mr. J. A. Ryon, Rev, Burton E.
Marsh, Rev. J. W. Welsh.

Northeastern Association, 37. Rev. Walter H. Rollins, Rev.
Henry W. Tuttle, Rev. Henry F. Milligan, Rev. Merle A. Breed.

Sioux Association, 44. Rev. J. E. Brereton, Rev. M. O.
Lambly, Rev. Joseph Steele, Jr., Mr. John M. McCandlass.

Webster City Association, 30. Rev. W. G. Ramsay, Rev.
Arthur Metcalf, Rev. H. D. Herr.

Welsh Association, 5. Rev. T. F. Jenkins.

Kansas [3].

General Conference. Rev. Frank K. Sanders, Mr. F. A.
Derby, Rev. W. E. Brehm.

Arkansas Valley Association, 21. Rev. W. T. Williams, Rev.
Archie Toothaker.

368 MINUTES. [1913.

Central Association, 38. Rev. Albert E. Seibert, Mr. A. S.
Allendorph, Rev. Roy B. Guild, Mr. J. A. Kesler.

Eastern Association, 20. Charles F. Pettyjohn, Rev. Frank
G. Beardsley.

Northern Association, 16. Rev. Robert D. Bussey, Mr. C. C.
Hart.

Northwestern Association, 20. Rev. J. E. Everett, Mr. Robert
R. Hays.

Southern Association, 25. Rev. Edward V. Gardner, Mr. John
W. Fuhrer.

Western Association, 8.

Wichita Association, 16. Rev. J. E. McClain, W. I. Plumb.

Kentucky [1].
General Conference. Rev. W. 0. Berckman.

Louisiana [1].
Congregational Association. Rev. Henderson H. Dunn.
Texas and Southwest. Rev. C. P. Martin, Rev. M. F. Foust.

Maine [3].

General Conference. Mr. George H. Eaton, Rev. Leavitt
H. Hallock.

Aroostook Association, 13.
Cumberland Association. Rev. Jesse Hill.
Cufnberland North Association, 19. Mrs. L. H. Hallock.
Franklin Association, 11.
Hancock Association, 21.

Kennebec Association, 15. Rev. Cyrus F. Stimson.
Lincoln Conference, 23. Mr. Galen C. Moses, Rev. Oscar W.
Peterson.

Oxford Conference, 12. Rev. William C. Curtis.

Penobscot Conference, 23.

Piscataquis Association, 11.

Somerset Conference, 10. Rev. Theodore H. Wilson.

Union Conference, 17. Mr. W. W. Staples. /

1913.] MINUTES. 369

Waldo Conference, 12. Rev. Charles H. McElhiney.
Washington Association, 25. Rev. A. A. McDonald, Rev.
John M. Bieler.

York County Association, 25. Rev. Chester B. Emerson.

Maryland,
(with new jersey.)

Massachusetts [14].

General Conference. Rev. Charles F. Weeden, Rev.
Henry Lincoln Bailey, Rev. Albert H. Wheelock, Mr. Thomas
Weston, Jr., Rev. Willard L. Sperry, Rev. Winfred C. Rhoades,
Mr. Henry Harrison Proctor, Rev. Stephen A. Norton, Mr.
William A. Andrew, Mr. Everett E. Kent, Mr. Henry H. Earl,
Rev. Andrew B. Chalmers, Geo. F. Kendall, Frank H. Wiggin.

Andover Association, 27. Rev. E. Victor Bigelow, Rev.
Chas. H. Oliphant, William Shaw.

Barnstable Conference, 24. Rev. N. I. Jones, Miss A. P.
Jones.

Berkshire North Association, 18. Rev. J. Spencer Voorhees,
Rev. Leon D. Bliss.

Brookfield Conference, 18. Hon. Charles N. Prouty, A. G.
Brewer.

Essex North Association, 24. Rev. Walter H. Nugent, Rev.
Nicholas Van der Pyl.

Essex South Association, 40. Rev. Walter S. Eaton, Mrs.
Walter S. Eaton, Walter K. Bigelow.

Franklin County Association, 31. Miss Adelaide Vining,
Rev. David Pike, Rev. W. W. McLane.

Hampden Association, 45. Rev. George S. Rollins, Rev.
Philip S. Moxom, Mr. C. B. Holton, J. Stuart Kirkham.

Hampshire Association, 17. Mr. L. M. Preston, Rev. E. B.
Robinson.

Hampshire East Association, 17. John G. Hosmer, Rev.
F. W. Hodgdon.

Mendon Association, 12. Rev. George R. Hewitt.

Middlesex South Association, 20. Rev. A. W. Ackerman, Mr.
Joseph W. Kelley.

370 MINUTES. [1913.

Middlesex Union Association, 24. Rev. J. B. Kettle, Thomas
Todd.

Norfolk Association, 36. Sidney A. Weston, Rev. A. M.
Hyde, Rev. Loyal L. Wirt, Rev. Almon J. Dyer.

Old Colony Conference, 16. Rev. Norman McEIinnon, Rev.
J. J. Walker.

Pilgrim Association, 15. Arthur W. Kelly.

Suffolk North Association, 26. Rev. Raymond Calkins, Mr.
Samuel Usher, Rev. Samuel C. Bushnell.

Suffolk South Association, 28. J. J. Arakelyan, F. 0. Winslow,
Rev. H. A. Bridgman.

Suffolk West Association, 29. Rev. J. O. Haarvig, Rev.
H. G. Person, Rev. J. L. Barton.

Taunton Association, 25. Rev. Clarence F. Swift, Rev. Wm.
Ewing.

Woburn Association, 24. Rev. Austin Rice.

Worcester Central Association, 30. Rev. William W. Jordan,
Rev. Shepherd Knapp, Rev. Albert G. Todd.

Worcester North Association, 17. Rev. Charles E. White,
Rev. B. S. Gilman.

Worcester South Conference, 16. Rev. Thomas C. Richards,
F. W. Forbes.

Michigan [4].

Congregational Conference. Mr. E. K. Warren, Rev.
J. W. Sutherland, Rev. A. S. Donat, Mr. F. E. Bogart.

Cheboygan Association, 21. Rev. Jonathan Turner, Rev.
C. E. Taggart.

Detroit Association, 22. Rev. Jos. H. Selden, Rev. J. P.
Huget.

Eastern Association, 19. Mrs. A. C. Diefenbach, Rev.
W. M. Todd.

Genesee Association, 18. Rev. Mathew Mullen, Rev. M. G.
Powley.

Gladstone Association, 7. Rev. H. A. Putnam.

Grand Rapids Association, 38. Rev. E. W. Bishop, Mr.
Adrian Otto.

Grand Traverse Association, 22. Rev. J. J. Staley, Rev.
W. H. Sargent.

1913-1 MINUTES. 371

Jackson Association, 16. Rev. F. M. Sheldon, Mr. Andrew
Campbell.

Kalamazoo Association, 36. Rev. A. C. Diefenbach, Rev.
W. H. Walker, Rev. W. E. Stevens, Rev. A. Jones,

Lake Superior Association, 11. Rev. Frederick Bagnall.

Lansing Association, 36. Rev. John P. Sanderson, Rev.
James S. Williamson, G. A. Gower, Mrs. C. W. Wagner.

Muskegon Association, 13. Rev. Archibald Hadden.

North Central Association, 14. Rev. W. A. Hutchinson.

Saginaw Association, 13. Victor F. Brown.

Sault Ste. Marie Association, 6. Mr. S. B. Poole.

Southern Association, 20. Rev. E. R. Latham, Mr. C. B.
Stowell.

Minnesota [3].

General Conference. Rev. John P. Miller, Prof. Fred
B. Hill, Rev. H. P. Dewey.

Central Association, 22. Rev. Fred Gray, Mr. Andrew
Purdon.

Duluth Conference, 10. Rev. George P. Sheridan.

Mankato Conference, 21. Rev. R. E. Roberts, Rev. Edward
Constant.

Alinneapohs Association, 42. Rev. Frank N. White, Dr.
Hobart K. Painter, Mr. D. D. Webster, Mr. H. T. Eddy.

Minnesota Valley Association, 19. Rev. James E. Parker,
Rev. F. S. Wheeler.

Northern Pacific Conference, 35. Rev. L. A. Lippitt, Mr.
L. C. Weeks, Rev. Henry A. Kernen.

Rainy River Association, 5.

StI Paul Conference, 28. Rev. Parley P. Womer, Rev. Everett
Lesher, Rev. E. B. Dean.

South Eastern Conference, 23. Rev. T. S. Devitt, Rev. H. C.
Todd.

Westerji Association, 16. Rev. M. B. Morris, Rev. R. P.
Herrick.

Mississippi [1].
Congregational Conference. Rev. G. S. Ledbctter.

372 MINUTES. [1913.

Missouri [2].

Congregational Conference. C. H. Kirshner, Rev. R. B.
Blyth.

Kansas City Association, 14. Mr. Albert Marty.

Kidder Association, 13. Rev. William M. Jones.

Springfield Association, 24. Mr. L. L. Allen, Rev. C. W.
Dunn.

St. Louis Association, 25. Rev. Horace F. Holton, Mr. J. C.
Birge.

Montana [1].
General Conference. Rev. G. J. Powell.

Great Falls District Association. Rev. E. E. Smith.

Northeastern Association. Rev". A. U. Baer.

South Eastern Association, 12. Rev. H. C. Juell, Rev. L. A.
Wilson.

Yellowstone Association. Rev. J. G. Burgess, Rev. W. H.
North, Rev. Joseph Pope.

Nebraska [3].

Congregational Conference. Rev. John Croker, Rev.
F. W. Leavitt, John N. Bennett.

Blue Valley Association, 22. Rev. B. A. Warren, Mrs. H. H.
Hosford.

Columbus Association, 12. Rev. H. J. Hinman.

Elk Horn Valley Association, 29. Rev. Edwin Booth, Jr.,
Rev. G. W. Mitchell, Rev. J. J. Klopp.

Frontier Association, 12. Mr. B. K. Schaeffer.

German Association, 20. Rev. F. C. F. Scherff.

Lincoln Association, 23. Rev. T. M. Shipherd, Mr. W. H.
Ambler.

Loup Valley Association, 18. Rev. A. W. Johnson, Rev.
N. H. Hawkins.

Northwestern Association, 7. Rev. W. C. Rundin.

1913.] . MINUTES. 373

Omaha Association, 20. Rev. James A. Jenkins, Mr. S. C.
Brewster.

Republican Valley Association, 21. Rev. J. L. Read, Prof.
M. M. Newcomb.

Nevada.

(in the general conference op CALIFORNIA.)

New Hampshire [3].

General Conference. Mr. E. S. Boj^er, -Rev. David
Eraser, Rev. William Bacon.

Cheshire Association, 25. Rev. David Howie, Rev. Albert
W. Howes.

Coos {and Essex, Vt.) Association, 9. Rev. Charles L.
Skinner.

Grafton-Orange Association, 13. Rev. Grant L. Schaeffer,
Rev. A. R. Crewe.

Hillsboro Association, 35. Rev. James P. Harper, Rev.
Daniel I. Gross, Rev. George E. Soper.

Merrimack Association, 4. Rev. Edward R. Stearns, Rev.
George H. Reed, Mr. Frank L. Gerrish, Mr. Joseph Benton.

Rockingham Association, 33. Mr. Harlan P. Amen, Rev.
George H. Driver, Rev. James G. Robertson.

Strafford Association, 21. Mr. Lyford Merrow, Rev. W. A.
Morgan.

Sullivan Association, 11. Mr. H. B. Frost.

New Jersey [2].

Congregational Conference. Mr. Norton M. Little,
Rev. Charles S. Mills.

Northern New Jersey Association, 48. Mr. Charles H. Baker,
Rev. R. J. Goddard, Rev. S. L. Loomis, Mr. A. J. Lockwood.

Washington {D. C.) Conference, 18. Rev. A. C. Garner, Mr.
L. P. Houghton.

New Mexico [1].
Congregational Conference. Rev. J. H. Heald.

374 MINUTES. . [1913.

New York [7].

General Conference. Rev. Lewis T. Reed, Rev. William
F. Ireland, Rev. Robert S. Smith, Mr. Guilford Dudley, Mr.
Thomas Christie, Edward F. Sanderson, Frederick W. Jenkins.

Black River and St. Lawrence Association, 31. Rev. Isaac
Steenson, Rev. A. M. Wight, Mr. J. J. Doty.

Central Association, 36. Mr. George B. Fairman, Mr. Giles
Stillwell, Rev. Stephen A. Lloyd, Rev. Edward D. Disbrow.

Essex Association, 9. Rev. John R. Gee.

Hudson River Association, 24. Rev. Walter A. Wagner, Mr.
Harlan P. French.

New York City Association, 64. Mr. Lucien C. Warner,
John R. Rogers, Rev. H. A. Stimson, Rev. Chas. E. Jefferson,
Rev. Nehemiah Boynton, Rev. Albert J. Lyman.

Oneida, Chenango and Delaware Association, 31. Rev. Wil-
liam A. Trow, Mr. Roderick Fitch, Rev. George R. Foster, Mr.
P. O. Wheeler.

Suffolk Association, 12. Rev. William H. Longsworth.

Susquehanna Association, 19. Rev. Clinton J. Taft.

Welsh Association, 16.

Western New York Association, 61. Mr. Franklin Sellick,
Rev. Livingston L. Taylor, Rev. Frank S. Fitch, Mr. Wm. H.
Crosby, Mr. Joseph C. Batchelder, Mr. George E. Savage
(alternate), Rev. Charles H. Small.

North Carolina [1].

Annual Conference. Rev. Perfect DeBerry.

Middle Association, 9.
North District Association, 10.
Southern Association, 6.
Western Association, 9.

North Dakota [1].

General Conference. Rev. Charles C. Creegan.

i Fargo Association, 24. Rev. R. A. Beard, Rev. Samuel
Hitchcock.

1913.] MINUTES. 375

German Conference, 47. Rev. Louis Ebertz, Rev. Fred 0.
Brose.

Grand Forks Association, 16. Rev. Charles C. Warner, Rev.
John I\I. Sutherland.

Jamestown Association, 44. Rev. E. E. Saunders, Rev. J.
Charles Evans, Mr. James A. Buchannan, J. K. Kirker.

Missouri River Association, 33. Rev. A. C. Hacke, Rev.
J. S. Rood, Rev. Alex D. Douglass.

Mouse River Association, 31. Rev. E. S. Shaw, Rev. C. L.
Rotch, Mrs. C. C. Creegan.

Southwestern Association, 12. Rev. E. H. Sticknej'.

Wahpeton Association, 11. Mr. John Reed.

Ohio [5].

Congregational Conference. Rev. Charles E. Burton,
Mr. H. Clark Ford, Rev. C. W. Huntington, Rev. Henry H.
Kelsey, Rev. Carl S. Patton.

Central North Association, 27. Rev. Raymond C. Swisher,
Rev. C. L. Fisk, Rev. I. W. Metcalf.

Central Ohio Association, 20. Rev. Washington Gladden,
Mr. I. S. Hoffman.

Central South Association, 13. Rev. E. S. Rothrock,

Cleveland Association, 39. Rev. C. H. Lemmon, IMr. William
G. Smith, Rev. A. M. Gibbons, Rev. Ernest H. Tippett.

Eastern Ohio Association, 18. Rev. N. W. Bates, Theodore
M. Bates.

Grand River Association, 27. Rev. J. A. Goodrich, Hon.
W. S. Harris, Rev. E. W. Huelster.

Marietta Association, 11. Mr. W. W. Mills.

Medina Association, 24. Rev. J. H. Grant, Mr. Thomas
Henderson.

Miayni Association, 13. Rev. D. M. Pratt.

Plymouth Rock Association, 18. Rev. M. S. Freeman, Rev.
E. L. Howard.

Puritan Association, 25. Mr. S. S. Bakh\in, Rev. L. J.
Travis.

Toledo Association, 16. Rev. E. B. Allen, Rev. J. N. Pierce.

376 MINUTES. [1913.

Oklahoma [1].

General Conference. Rev. Charles E. Tower.

Colored Association, 5. Rev. A. W. Dobson.
Eastern Association, 22. Rev. C. C. Burger, W. H. Campbell.
Northwest Association, 22. Rev. Frank Peyton, Rev. E. F.
Schwab.
Southwest Association, 15. Mr. J. Collins. /

Oregon [1].

Congregational Conference. Rev. George E. Paddack,
Rev. W. A. Schwimley.

East Willamette Associatioti, 13. Rev. George N. Edwards,
Mr. C. H. Dye.

Mid-Columhian Association, 11.

Portland Association. Mrs. F. Eggert, Rev. Luther R.
Dyott, Mrs. Walter Hodge.

West Willamette Association, 17. Rev. Hubert G. Adams.

Pennsylvania [2].

Congregational Conference. Rev. E. H. Romig, Mr.
W. H. Davis.

Eastern Welsh Association, 27. David Howells.

Northwest Association, 16. Rev. John T. Nicholls, Rev.
Charles H. Dutton.

Philadelphia Association, 8. Rev. Clinton B. Adams.

Pittsburg Association, 17. Rev. H. H. Guernsey, Mr. G. T.
Adams.

Susquehanna Association, 6.

Wyoming Valley Association, 27. Rev. Owen Thomas.

Rhode Island [2].

Congregational Conference, 43. Mr. E. R. Bullock,
Mr. Herbert J. Wells, Rev. J. J. Brokenshire, Rev. G. A. Hul-
bert, Rev. E. L. Marsh, Rev. James McConnell.

1913.] MINUTES. 377

South Carolina.

(with GEORGIA.)

Rev. E. E. Grimshaw.

South Dakota [2].

General Conference. Mr. Bayard E. Beach, M. F.
Beveridge.

Black Hills Association, 26. Rev. D. J. Perrin, Rev. J. H.
Hull, Rev. D. J. GiUanders.

Central Association, 29. Rev. Pearse Pinch, Rev. K. S.
Tontz, Rev. 0. O. Smith.

South Central Association, 21. Rev. John Jefferies, Rev.
Isaac Cassel, Rev. C. W. Smith.

Dakota Association, 18. Rev. T. L. Riggs, Rev. N. F. Cole.

German Conference, 37. Prof. Cornelius Richart, Rev. Frank
Fox.

Northern Association, 40. Rev. W. H. Thrall, Rev. A.
Loomis, Rev. S. B. Wehes, Rev. S. G. Butcher, Rev. E. W.
Jenney.

Yankton Association, 27. Rev. F. V. Stevens, Rev. H. W.
Jamison, Rev. W. I. Beatty.

Tennessee [1].

General Conference. Rev. E. G. Harris.

Cumberland Plateau Association, 20. Miss E. L. Burns, F. W.
Spaulding.
Nashville Conference, 13. Miss Emily Rockwell.

Texas [1].
State Association. Rev. George W. Ray.

Lone Star Association, 26. Rev. R. R. Shoemaker, Mr. John
W. Logan.

Panhandle Congregational Association, 7. Rev. W. H. Hurl-
but.

378 MINUTES. [1913.

Utah [1].
General Association. Rev. Elmer I. Goshen.

Vermont [3].

General Conference. Rev. Benjamin Swift, Rev. Arthur
P. Pratt, Mr. John M. Comstock.

Addison Association, 14. Rev. Richard G. Woodbridge.

Bennington Association, 10. Frank Morse.

Caledonia Association, 17. Mr. George H. Cross, Rev. E. E.
Grant.

Chittenden Association, 16. Rev. E. G. Guthrie, Mr. E. B.
Jordan.

Coos and Essex Association, 12. Entered in New Hampshire.

Franklin and Grand Isle Association, 15. Rev. Carl J. Peter-
son.

Lamoille Association, 10. Rev. H. E. Harned.

Orange Association, 13. Mr. Edward W. Tewksbury.

Orleans Association, 20. Rev. L. A. Edwards.

Rutland Association, 18. Rev. Walter Thorpe, Rev. W. A.
Melntire.

Union Association, 12. Rev. Henry L. Ballon.

Washington Association, 17. Rev. James B. Sargent, Rev.
John W. Barnett.

Windham Association, 19. Rev. Dani( 1 Mclntyre, Rev.
Roy M. Houghton.

Windsor County Association, 19. Mr. H. C. Pease.

Virginia,
(with new jersey.)

Washington [2].

General Conference. Rev. Harry B. Hendley, Prof.
Louis F. Anderson.

Columbia River Association, 11. Rev. Cephas F. Clapp.
Eastern Washington and North Idaho Association, 79. Rev.
W. H. Ashley, Rev. B. C. Preston, Mrs. B. C. Preston, Rev.

1013.1 MINUTES. 379

D. E. AVilson, Rev. Harold E. Anderson, Mr. W. H. Short,
Mrs. W. H. Short, Rev. S. B. L. Penrose.

Northwestern Association, 37. Rev. Gilbert T. Holcombe,
Rev. C. R. Gale, Mrs. C. R. Gale.

Pacific German Association, 17. Rev. M. E. Eversz.

Seattle Association, 32. Rev. Edward L. Smith, Rev. W. W.
Scudder, Rev. F. J. Van Horn.

Taconia Association, 22. Rev. Robert H. Edmonds, Mrs.
H. B. Hendley.

Yakima Association, 7.

Wisconsin [4].

Congregational Association. Mr. W. W. Hughes, Rev.
Homer W. Carter, Rev. L. H. Keller.

Beloit Association, 31. Rev. Almon 0. Stevens, Rev. William
A. Leary, A. S. Baker.

Eau Claire Association, 29. Rev. William J. Gray, Rev.
L. C. Grant, Rev. C. M. Good.

La Crosse Convention, 27. Mr. J. J. Hughes, Rev. E. G.
Updike.

Madison Convention, 41. Rev. C. W. Stark, Rev. 0. L.
Robinson, Rev. A. J. Buxton, Rev. D. Q. Grabill.

Milwaukee Convention, 32. Rev. Charles H. Beale, Mr. C. C.
Gittings, Rev. Robert J. Locke.

Northeast Convention, 19. Rev. J. E. Searles, Rev. F. W.
Heberlein.

Superior Convention, 12. Rev. J. W. Jordan, Mr. W. N.
Fuller.

Winnebago Convention, 35. Rev. John Faville, Mr. R. M.
Higg-ins, Rev. Edwin A. Ralph.

Wisconsin Welsh Convention.

Wyoming [1].

General Association. Rev. W. B. D. Gray.

Wyoming Southern Association, 9. Rev. F. C. Le\\'is.
Wyoming Northern Association, 7. Rev. Charles G. Miller.

380 MINUTES. [1913.

Members ex Officiis.

Assistant Moderator. — Henry M. Beardsley.
Registrar and Treasurer. — Rev. Joel S. Ives.
Secretary. — Rev. Asher Anderson.

Societies.

American Board. — ■ Rev. Cornelius H. Patton.

American Missionary Association. — Rev. F. Q. Blanchard.

Congregational Education Society. — Rev. William R. Camp-
bell.

Congregational Home Missionary Society. — Rev. S. H.
Woodrow.

Congregational Sunday-School and Publishing Society. —
Rev. Frederick H. Page.

Congregational Church Building Society. — Rev. Charles H.
Richards.

Congregational Brotherhood. — Rev. Henry A. Atkinson.

Board of the Hawaiian Evangelical Association. — Hon.
Peter Cushman Jones.

Woman's Federation. — Mrs. W. C. Kantner.

Colleges.

Beloit College. — Pres. Edward D. Eaton.

Colorado College. — Pres. William F. Slocum.

Grinnell College. — Pres. J. H. T. Main.

Kingfisher College. — Pres. Calvin B. Moody.

Pomona College. — Pres. James A. Blaisdell.

Straight University. — Rev. H. P. Douglass.

Tillotson College. — Major Ira H. Evans.

Washburn College. — Vice-Pres. Duncan L. McEachron.

Wheaton College. — Pres. Charles A. Blanchard.

Olivet College. — Pres. E. G. Lancaster.

Yankton College. — Prof. G. H. Durand.

Fairmount College. — Pres. H. E. Thayer.

Tabor College. — Dean N. W. Wehrhan.

Tougaloo. — Pres. W. T. Holmes.

1913.] MINUTES. 381

Theological Seminaries.

Andover Seminary. — Prof. Daniel- Evans.
Pacific Seminary. — Pres. Charles S. Nash.
Chicago Seminary. — Pres. Ozora S. Davis.
Hartford Seminary. — Prof. Edwin Knox Mitchell.
Tougaloo University. — Pros. Wm. T. Holmes.

Speakers for National Council.

Rev. Peter S. Ainslie, Rev. Carl S. Patton, Rev. Newman
Smyth, Rev. Raymond Calkins, Rev. Newell D. HiUis, Rev.
Graham Taylor, Prof. E. A. Steiner, Hon. Simeon E. Bakh^an,
Rev. Ohver Huekel, Rev. Henry H. Proctor, Pres. Ozora S.
Davis, Rev. Frank J. Goodwin.

State Secretaries.

(other than delegates.)

Miss L. A. Collins, New Mexico; Rev. D. S. Bayley, Colo-
rado; Rev. G. E. Green, South Dakota.

Members of Committees Not Named Elsewhere.

W. H. Catlin; E. S. Miller; F. B. Smith; E. H. Pitkin;
J. M. Whitehead; C. C. Merrill; Miss S. L. Day; H. C.
Herring; F. W. Hodgdon; Miss Flora Starr; Mrs. N. W.
Ferrier; W. G. Puddefoot; W. Walker; J. A. Adams; J. H.
George; H. H. Russell.

Foreign Missionaries.

Rev. J. K. Browne, Turkey; Rev. and Mrs. C. C. Tracy,
Turkey; Rev. J. K. Greene, Turkey; Rev. and Mrs. C. E.
Ewing, China; Rev. and Mrs. Sidney L. Gulick, Japan; Rev.
and Mrs. John Howland, Mexico; Rev. Irving M. Channon,
Micronesia; Rev. and Mrs. Lyman Peet, China; Rev. and Mrs.
Merlin Ennis, Africa; Rev. and Mrs. Chas. H. Maxwell,
Africa; Thomas B. Scott, M.D., Ceylon; Mrs. Marion Web-

382 MINUTES. [1913.

ster, Africa; Rev. and Mrs. Wm. C. Bell, Africa; Clias. T.
Sibley, M.D., Philippines.; Rev. and Mrs. C. T. Erickson,
Albania; Miss Ellen M. Stone, formerly Bulgaria; Mrs. Geo.
B. Cowles, Africa; Miss Lucia Lyons, China; Mrs. L. L
Wellman, formerly Africa; Dr. and Mrs. Cooper, China;
Rev. Clarence A. Neff, China; Wayne C. Bowers, Spain; Mr.
H. B. King, Bulgaria; Mr. Leroy H. Stafford, Turke3^

Moderators.

Pres. Cj^rus Northrop, Pi^ev. Washington Gladden, Hon.
Thomas C. MacMillan, Rev. Nehemiah Boynton.

Assistant Moderators.

Rev. Chas. R. Brown, Connecticut; Hon. J. H. Perry,
Connecticut; Pres. J. G. Merrill, Tennessee; Rev. Franklin S.
Fitch, New York; Rev. Geo. W. Henderson, Louisiana; Pres.
S. B. L. Penrose, Washington; Rev. H. H. Proctor, Georgia;
Pres. Charles S. Nash, California.

Preachers.

Rev. A. J. Lyman, New York; Rev. Charles E. Jefferson,
New York.

Ministers Serving Churches Entertaining Council.

Rev. Frank G. Beardsley, Rev. Geo. B. Drake, Rev. C. S.
Colburn, Rev. Lewis H. Bookwalter, Rev. John H. Nichols,
Rev. Frank G. Smith, Rev. Frank L. Johnston, Rev. Hiram B.
Harrison, Rev. Dwight F. Mowery, Rev. John B. Silcox,
Rev. H. D. Sheldon.

Assistant Secretary.

Rev. Henry L. Bailey, Massachusetts, was elected assistant
secretary.

Assistant Registrars.

Rev. John H. Grant, Ohio, and John W. Logan, Texas, were
elected assistant registrars.

1913.] MINUTES. 383

Committees Appointed.

Upon the report of the Nominating Committee, the following
were appointed:

Business Committee. — Rev. Charles F. Carter, Connecticut;
H. T. Eddy, Minnesota; Rev. Lewis T. Rc^ed, New York; A.
Loomis, South Dakota; Rev. Theodore M. Shipherd, Nebraska.

On Credentials. — Rev. Charles H. Beale, Wisconsin; E. E.
Knut, and Rev. Ashe/ Anderson, Massachusetts.

Finance. — F. 0. Winslow, Massachusetts; S. E. Knecht,
Illinois; Albert Marty, Missouri.

Reports.

The following reports were received: the report of the Pro-
visional Committee; Publishing Conmiittee; Secretary of
Council; Treasurer of Council; Treasurer of Corporation;
Committee of Nineteen; Committee on Calvin Centenary;
Apportionment Commission.

After statement by Lucien C. Warner, New York, it was
voted: That the report of the Apportionment Commission be
referred to a committee of five to report later.

There were also received the reports of the Congregational
Brotherhood; the Committee on Church Property; Church
Unity; Comity, Federation, and Unity; Corporation; Chari-
ties and Corrections; Delegates to Federal Comicil; Evangel-
ism; Industrial Committee.

It was voted: That the report of the Industrial Committee
be referred to a committee of five.

Greetings.

" The General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church
assembled in New York sends fraternal greetings and prays that
the day may be hastened when all Christians shall be joined
together in that peace and unity for which our Lord prayed.

" Henry Austin, Secretary."

It was voted: That suitable response be made by a committee
consisting of the moderator, the secretary, and Rev. NewTnan
Sm>i:h, Connecticut ; and that the same committee be author-

384 MINUTES. [1913.

ized to communicate with any national religious bodies at
present in session.

The following was adopted :

" The National Council of the Congregational Churches of
the United States sends greeting to the Universalist Conven-
tion, now assembled in Chicago; and we would express our
desire to cooperate with you in every good work in the name of
our common Master and Lord."

Later the following response was received :

" The Universalist General Convention in session at Chicago
receives with heartfelt appreciation the greeting and Christian
fellowship from your distinguished body, and in reply expresses
the hope that the coming years may draw both bodies of Chris-
tians into a closer unity of spirit in the service of Jesus Christ."

Reports.

There were also received the reports of the Committee on
Ministerial Education; Order of Public Worship; Religious
Education ; Temperance.

Greetings.

" We, the members of all the Japanese Congregational
Churches of the Pacific Coast, unitedly send you our most hearty
greetings and best wishes for this epoch-making event in the
history of our denomination. We pray that God may bless
every one of you and give you wisdom and courage for the
evangehzation of the world."

The following reply was made :

" Responding to the gracious greeting from the Japanese
Congregational Churches of the Pacific Coast, the National
Council of Congregational Churches heartily reciprocates its
spirit, feeling strengthened by this fraternal expression and
praying for the time when there shall be neither West nor East,
but all shall be one in Christ."

1913.] MINUTES. 385

Covmiitiee on Report of Appoi'tionment Commission.

The following were appointed: Epaphroditus Peck, Con-
necticut; Rev. Oscar E. Maurer, Connecticut; Rev. H. Grant
Person, Massachusetts; Rev. James S. Williamson, Michigan;
C. H. Kirshner, Missouri.

At 4.55 a recess was taken after prayer and benediction by
Rev. Washington Gladden, Ohio.

Wednesday Evening.
The Council assembled at 7.30, Assistant Moderator Beards-
ley in the chair. '' M.y soul, be on thy guard " was sung.

Committee on Report of Industrial Committee.

The following were appointed: Rev. William H. Day, Cali-
fornia; Rev. Edwin B. Robinson, Massachusetts; Rev. Parley
P. Womer, Minnesota; Rev. E. Lyman Hood, Georgia; Roger
Leavitt, Iowa.

The moderator, Rev. Charles R. Bro"^Ti, Connecticut, having
been out of the city until this time, was greeted by the Council
and was escorted to the chair by Rev. Samuel H. Woodrow,
Missouri; Rev. William H. Daj^, California, and Rev. Charles
S. Mills, New Jersey.

After an anthem bj^ the quartet of the First Church, the
Council sang, " Jesus shall reig-n where'er the sun."

A gavel made of five pieces, one each from the Asa Turner
home, Denmark, Ohio; Tabor College, Washburn College,
Drury College, and the first meeting house of the First Con-
gregational Church, Kansas City, was presented bj^ Rev. James
G. Dougherty, Missouri, and the same was accepted by the
moderator.

Greetings.

Rev. D. S. Stevens, D.D., chancellor of Kansas Cit}^ Univer-
sity, presented greetings from the Methodist Protestant Church.

Welcome.

Welcome was extended to the Council from Rev. Frank G.
Smith, pastor of the entertaining church, and on behalf of the

386 MINUTES. [1913.

laymen of the city from Henry M. Beardsley, to which the
moderator made response.

The choir sang " I heard the voice of Jesus say."

Address of the Retiring Moderator.

Rev. Nehemiah Boynton, New York, the retiring moderator,
made an address on " The New Congregationalism."

" I love thy kingdom, Lord," was sung, and the benediction
pronounced by Rev. James B. Silcox, Missouri.

Thursday Morning, October 23.
At 9 A.M. worship was led by Rev. Raymond Calkins, Mas-
sachusetts, assisted by Rev. Charles S. Mills, New Jersey.
At 9.30 the Moderator called the Council to order.

Federal Council.

The report of the delegates to the Federal Council was pre-
sented and the resolutions adopted.

Credentials.

It was voted: That the recommendation of the Committee on
Credentials to seat delegates from the Welsh Association,
Iowa, and the Third Congregational District, Alabama, be
adopted.

Memorial from Maine.

The memorial from Maine on the subject of increased Coun-
cil dues was received and referred to the Business Committee.

Christian Service.

The resolution requesting the Business Committee to report
to the Council on the advisability of organizing a movement to
bring the claims of Christian service before young men was dis-
cussed by Rev. Charles A. Blanchard, Illinois; C. A. Prouty
and William Shaw, Massachusetts, and received. It was later
referred to the Committee on Religious Education.

Annuities.

The memorial from the Wisconsin State Association on minis-
terial annuities was received.

1913.] MINUTES. 387

Church Property.

On recommendation of the Business Committee the report of
the Committee on Church Property was adopted.
A recess was taken at 10.30.

Congregational Home Missionary Society.

The sessions of the Congregational Home Missionary Society
continued from 10.30 Thursday morning through the afternoon
and evening.

During the afternoon the annual business meeting of the
Woman's Home Missionary Federation was held at the West-
minster Church.

Friday Morning, October 24.
At 9 A.M. worship was led by Rev. Raymond Calkins assisted
by Rev. Livingston L. Taylor, New York.

At 9.40 the Council was called to order by the moderator.

Greetings.

Greetings were presented from the Congregational Union
of Austraha, and suitable response was sent to Rev. Thomas
Roseby, LL.D., president of the Australasian Congregational
Union.

Comviission of Nineteen.

On recommendation of the Business Committee it was voted:
That the report of the Commission of Nineteen be the order of
business for Saturday morning, October 25, and that the vote
be taken at 12 m.

Temperance.

Resolution 3 of the report of the Committee on Temperance
was adopted, and after a general discussion Resolution 4 was
adopted by the following vote: Yea, 517; Nay, 14. The
registrar was instructed to note that the voting privilege had
been explicitly limited by the ruling of the moderator to the
delegates of the Comicil.

388 MINUTES. [1913.

Rural Problem.

The resolution that a Commission of Nine be appointed, to
be designated the Commission on the Church and the Rural
Problem, was referred to the Committee on Religious Education.

American Missionary Association.

At 10.30 the seventy-seventh annual meeting of the American
Missionary Association continued through Friday morning,
afternoon, and evening.

Saturday Morning, October 25.
At 9 A.M. worship was led by Rev. Raymond Calkins, assisted
by Rev. Rockwell H. Potter, Connecticut.

The moderator called the Council to order at 9.30.

Commission of Nineteen.

The report of the Commission of Nineteen was presented
to the Council by Rev. Frank K. Sanders, Kansas. Rev. Wil-
liam E. Barton, Illinois, followed in behalf of the sub-committee
on the constitution; Rev, Charles S. Nash, California, on the
secretaryship; and Prof. Williston Walker, Connecticut, on
the missionary societies and their relation to the Council.

It was voted: That the general discussion be in the following
order: The missionary societies, the secretaryship, other details.

It was voted: That all votes taken previous to the final vote
be regarded as informal and non-binding.

General discussion followed with various votes, including the
approval of the different sections of the report. Some changes
were accepted by the Commission and the final form of the report
with the enacting resolutions were adopted, and will be found
on pages 335-355.

The Doxology, " Praise God from whom all blessings flow,"
was sung, and prayer was offered by Rev. Albert J. Lyman,
New York.

The following resolution was adopted: That the Council
presents to the members of the Commission of Nineteen and
records upon